Rahul Gandhi shares video of his ‘yatra’, ‘wonderful conversation’ with truck drivers

PTI, May 30, 2023, 9:43 AM IST

Credit: Twitter/@RahulGandhi

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has shared a video of his overnight ”yatra” with truck drivers and the conversations he had with them while travelling on the Delhi-Chandigarh Highway.

Gandhi undertook the journey last Monday from Delhi to Chandigarh to listen to the problems faced by truck drivers.

Donning his trademark white T-shirt, Gandhi, in the video, is seen sitting inside a truck, travelling with a driver and speaking to other drivers at a dhaba.

”Interesting conversation with truck drivers in six-hour Delhi-Chandigarh journey! Spending 24 hours on the road, they unite every corner of India,” he said in a tweet in Hindi while sharing a 35-second video of him during the journey.

Gandhi also shared the link of the complete video of his journey on his YouTube page. Continuing his interaction with people just like during the Bharat Jodo Yatra, the Congress leader met and spoke with a group of truck drivers at a dhaba in Murthal on NH-44, and travelled on a truck from there to Chandigarh, while on his way to Shimla, the party said.

During the conversation with the drivers, he decided to accompany Prem Rajpoot from Firozabad, Uttar Pradesh in his truck. Gandhi had a wonderful conversation with Rajpoot and his companion Rakesh that made the six hours pass in no time, a statement from the party said.

The complete video narrates a story that 3 crore Indians are directly employed in the truck industry and reports suggest that every year there is a demand for 9 lakh new truck drivers. However, according to an independent study, about 98 per cent of truck drivers like Prem Rajpoot, from Lodhi community in Uttar Pradesh, do not want their family members to join their profession. The same report also suggests most of them complained of harassment by police, and low and irregular income, the video stated.

The story that these figures reflect is the same story that was retold by the truck drivers to Gandhi, who assured them that the next Congress government will do its best to improve their plight, the party said.

Gandhi has been meeting people and listening to the voice of common Indians on a regular basis.

From visiting Old Delhi and students of Mukherjee Nagar and the Delhi University to taking to a BMTC bus and Blinkit bike ride in Bengaluru, he has actively engaged with people from various sections of society, continuing his process of listening to people like during the Bharat Jodo Yatra.