MUMBAI: The Congress will greet people with "Jai Baliraja" and "Ram Ram" to express its gratitude for farmers, a day after the Maharashtra government issued a resolution asking its employees to greet people with 'Vande Mataram' instead of "hello" during official or personal phone calls.
State Congress president Nana Patole, however, added that the party was not opposed to the 'Vande Mataram' greeting.
"......Our country is an agrarian economy where the agriculture sector plays a major role. It is our stand that we will say 'Jai Baliraja' (hail the farmer) and 'Ram Ram' while greeting people to express gratitude for farmers," Patole told reporters when asked about the Government Resolution (GR) on 'Vande Mataram' for government employees and officers.
Patole paid tributes to Mahatma Gandhi and former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri on the occasion of their birth anniversaries.
Responding to a query, Patole said leaders of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are getting restless after seeing the "huge response" evoked by Congress' 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' being led by Rahul Gandhi.
"It seems the mental balance of BJP leaders is disturbed and they are criticising the padayatra. But this foot march will continue its journey to Kashmir unfazed by the criticism," he said.
Patole claimed resentment among the people against BJP due to its "authoritarian rule and arrogance".
"The country's economy is at an all-time low and the Rupee continues to depreciate. The BJP government cannot control inflation; the problem of unemployment is huge," he said.
"The response to the padayatra, which is set out to uphold democracy, Constitution, and to maintain the unity and diversity of India, is unprecedented," he said.
Patole claimed even RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat had to take note of this foot march and visited a mosque in Delhi and met the imam.
He said some "second-rank" functionaries in the BJP are unnecessarily criticising the Bharat Jodo Yatra.
