Rahul, Priyanka meet families of Pulwama martyrs, say their father also met the same fate

Shamli (Uttar Pradesh) [India]: Congress president Rahul Gandhi and his sister Priyanka Gandhi on Wednesday said that they very well understand the pain of the families whose near and dear ones achieved martyrdom in Pulwama terror attack.

Sharing his grief and condolences with the family members of martyrs—Amit Kumar Kori and Pradeep Kumar—here, Rahul said: “We are with you in your grief. Our brave soldiers have sacrificed their lives for the country. The father of (Amit Kumar) said that he was sad but also proud of his son.”

Rahul, who was speaking at a prayer meeting, said: “I would also like to say that we are saddened but are also proud of the fact that a family of Hindustan spent the whole life in educating his son; the family gave the entire love to the son, and the son on his part sacrificed everything for the nation. We can never forget this fact.”

Referring to an observation earlier made by Priyanka Gandhi, Rahul said: “My sister stated that our father met the same kind of fate. We can understand the pain you have in your heart, the magnitude of your agony. We are here to sit with you for five minutes and tell you that we are with you in this moment of grief.”

“I am not just talking about the sacrifice of (Amit Kumar), but all those CRPF jawans who have attained martyrdom for the nation. I want to tell their families that we are with you,” he said, reiterating that there is no power in the world which can “divide and scare” India.

“India is a land of brave people. Our soldiers have proved this again,” he said. The Congress president said that in this hour of grief he would not like to speak much. “However, I must tell you all that his nation is one. It is everybody’s country. India is a country of love and fraternity. This is the message of Hindustan,” he said.

Earlier speaking, Priyanka Gandhi also said that the entire nation was indebted to the martyrs. “It is not that only you are saddened. We all are saddened. In a way, we have also seen such an agony.”

“Therefore, we can fully understand the kind of time you must be passing through. We will never want you to feel alone. The whole nation is with you. We are with you and will always take care of you. We express our tribute and respect towards all those who have laid down their lives for the nation,” said Priyanka.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi and AICC General Secretary Priyanka were accompanied by AICC General Secretary Jyotiraditya Scindia and Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee president Raj Babbar.

It is worth mentioning that Priyanka was recently made the Congress general secretary and has been given the responsibility of managing party affairs in eastern UP for the coming Lok Sabha elections, while Scindia has been given the charge of western UP.

The Congress party has decided to contest all 80 Lok Sabha seats at stake in Uttar Pradesh after the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) announced their seat-sharing arrangement without making the Congress a part of their alliance.

The two parties have agreed to contest 38 seats each, while they have announced to not field their candidates from Rae Bareli and Amethi, the two seats currently represented by UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi respectively.

On February 14, as many as 40 jawans of CRPF were killed when their convoy was attacked by a suicide bomber of Pakistan-bases terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district while they were travelling to Srinagar from Jammu.

[source_without_link]ANI[/source_without_link]