LUCKNOW: Extending gratitude for the warm welcome that he was accorded in the state capital Lucknow on arriving with his Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, Congress’s ex-chief Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday said that the people of Lucknow had opened thousands of shops of love and amity (Mohabbat ki Dukane) in advance.“I am grateful that you welcomed me with so much of love. Our country is not a place of hatred. We stand for love and brotherhood,” said the Congress leader amid the cheering crowd in the old city locality of Chowk.Promising caste census and legal guarantee of MSP, Rahul Gandhi said that the reason for the current prevailing hatred in the country was the injustice being meted out to poor, unemployed, backwards, Dalits and tribals by the present government.He narrated how he completed the earlier Yatra — Bharat Jodo Yatra — from Kanyakumari to Kashmir. “On people’s demand, I embarked upon the Bharat Jodo Nyaya Yatra from Manipur to Maharashtra covering UP, Bihar and other states,” said Rahul Gandhi.Earlier, in Rae Bareli where Rahul Gandhi accused the present government of having turned a blind eye to the issues of the deprived, jobless and backward, he was reportedly shown black flags at a few places.Meanwhile, a court in Sultanpur, on Tuesday, granted bail to Rahul Gandhi in connection with a defamation case of 2018. The Congress leader secured the bail by filling two bonds of Rs 25,000 each and on a personal surety of two individuals. The bail was granted in a five-year-old defamation case, which was lodged against Gandhi for allegedly making a ‘defamatory’ statement against the current Union Home Minister Amit Shah. The defamation case, filed by BJP Leader Vijay Mishra in 2018, accused Gandhi of making “objectionable” comments against Shah at a press conference in Bengaluru.Lawyers aware of the matter said Gandhi skipped the last hearing on January 18 as he was busy with the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra. He appeared before the court on Tuesday. “During the hearing, Gandhi was granted bail by Judge Yogesh Yadav after filling the bail bonds,” said Kashi Prasad Shukla, Gandhi’s counsel.
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