Hindu-Muslim, Hindu-Muslim, Hindu-Muslim, Hindu-Muslim… — what television channels show 24 hours a day is not the truth of India, Rahul Gandhi told a massive gathering at the Red Fort where the Bharat Jodo Yatra arrived on Saturday after covering 2,800km from Kanyakumari on foot.

“People love each other, respect each other. Peaceful coexistence has been India’s reality for thousands of years,” the Congress leader said, drawing attention to a temple, a mosque, a Jain temple and a gurdwara visible in the vicinity.

Rahul said he too had begun to think that hate had spread everywhere and that “we will have to wipe it out”, but during the long walk from Kanyakumari to Delhi he had encountered no hatred or violence and realised that the ordinary citizen wanted peace.

Why then do the channels only show hate and violence, he asked. In answer, he posed another question: “What does a pickpocket do first, before he picks your pocket?”

He added: “The pickpocket distracts you, diverts your attention away from your pocket so that you don’t realise it when you are robbed. The same is happening here. The 24-hour ‘Hindu-Muslim, Hindu-Muslim, Hindu-Muslim’ on television channels diverts your attention, and whatever you have, the farmers, the workers, whatever assets you have, your airports, ports, roads, railways... all go into the pockets of their owners.”

The Congress leader asked who the owners were, and the crowd chorused the names Adani and Ambani.

“This is not Narendra Modi’s government, this is Ambani-Adani’s government. And their aim is to divert your attention so that even by mistake you don’t see the real issues,” Rahul said, iterating a point he has often made before.

Amid loud cheers and clapping, Rahul continued: “They ensure you don’t talk about jobs, the future of our youth, the destruction of small and medium businesses that create jobs.”

The demonetisation and the flawed GST were not policies but weapons to kill small and medium businesses with, he said.

While he had not seen hate during the Yatra, he had seen fear among the people, Rahul said.

“The BJP talks about religion,” he said. “I want to ask, where does the Hindu faith say that you should crush the poor, the weak? I have read the Gita, the Upanishads but not read anything like this.... Now they are spreading fear in the country, in the minds of the farmers, youths, women, small and medium businessmen.”

“Have you seen Shivji’s picture, have you seen his raised hand, what is it called?” Rahul then asked, raising his hand. “This is called Abhayamudra. It means, ‘Don’t fear.’ Shivji says, ‘Don’t fear.’ The Hindu faith says, ‘Don’t fear.’ But these people are spreading fear in the country 24 hours.”

Rahul said that in the Yatra, there has been no hate, violence, no questions on faith, caste, gender — no questions on clothes, a voice from the audience egged him on — and even dogs, cows, buffaloes and pigs had been seen but had not been harmed. The Yatra was like India, where everyone was welcome, he said.

In a spontaneous and free-flowing speech, cheered throughout, Rahul showed up the media again when he brought up a question that has been asked of him and the Congress: “Doesn’t Rahul feel cold?”

The Congress leader, who has been walking in the winter without woollens, said he wondered why this same question was not asked of the farmers, the labourers and the poor children.

Claiming that the conspiracy to destroy his image had begun when he started the fight for the Land Acquisition Act, he said: “They spent thousands of crores to ruin my image. They used the mainstream media, WhatsApp, Facebook. I remained silent. I thought let’s see… kitna dum hai. Truth cannot be destroyed. In one month (of the Bharat Jodo Yatra), people saw the truth.”

Actor Kamal Haasan, who walked with Rahul in Delhi, also addressed the gathering at the Red Fort. “Party politics is different. Questions of political alliance are another matter. I am here as an Indian. When it comes to the country, only the Tricolour matters. I am here cheering for Rahul Gandhi because he is on a mission to unite the country. I heard the inner voice of my conscience and decided: Desh todne ki madad mat karo, desh jodne ki madad karo (Don’t support the forces who divide the country, help those who unite the country).”

Rahul blew kisses at the crowd and thanked the people for the love showered on the Yatra, which he said had started from Kanyakumari to unite the country and rid it of hate and fear and would go to Kashmir and hoist the Tricolour there.

The Yatra, which entered Delhi early in the morning, took a break at Jairam Ashram where Rahul prayed to Lord Ram and Sita. He then visited the Hazrat Nizamuddin dargah. But what would have left the BJP flummoxed is his decision to visit the samadhi of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Smriti Sthal, along with the samadhis of Mahatma Gandhi at Rajghat, Jawaharlal Nehru at Shanti Van, Indira Gandhi at Shakti Sthal, Rajiv Gandhi at Vir Bhoomi and Lal Bahadur Shastri at Vijay Ghat.

Rahul was to pay homage at the memorials on Saturday evening, but he reached the Red Fort late because of the large crowds along the way. He will now go instead on Sunday morning while the Bharat Yatris will go home to meet their families for the first time since the start of the Yatra on September 7. The Yatra will resume on January 3.

The Bharat Jodo Yatra in New Delhi on Saturday, having covered 2,800km from Kanyakumari to reach the national capital. PTI picture

Left: Actor Kamal Haasan, who walked in the Yatra on Saturday, at the Red Fort. He addressed the gathering and said he had come as a son of India because a voice within told him: “Kamal, help unite the country.” | Right: Rahul with Sonia Gandhi, who joined the Yatra in New Delhi on Saturday. He posted this photograph on Twitter with the message: “I am sharing with the country the love I have received from her.” PTI picture

A woman watches the Yatra pass through a New Delhi street on Saturday. PTI picture