Rahul Gandhi visits Golden Temple, catches leaders off guard

Amritsar, January 10

A day before the commencement of the nearly 350-km-long Punjab leg of the ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’, sporting a saffron-coloured turban, Rahul Gandhi paid obeisance at the Golden Temple this afternoon.

Has ‘Makki ki roti’ and ‘saag’

Patiala: Rahul on Tuesday evening visited the residence of a Congress worker Gurmeet Singh, alias Bittu, at a nearby Sidhupur village. He interacted with family members, sat on a cot and had ‘makki ki roti’ and ‘saag’. He also tried his hands at preparing ‘chana masala’ and ‘bhature’. He offered toffees to kids in the house. He also met an ex-serviceman and left for Sirhind after dinner.

Sources in the Congress said on the intervention of Rahul, the fixed schedule of the yatra was rearranged and he visited the holiest Sikh shrine.

Many senior leaders of Punjab were caught off guard due to the sudden change in his schedule. The eleventh hour changes in the schedule set in a kind of competition among Congress leaders of the region to greet the leader at Sri Guru Ram Das Jee International Airport.

Accompanied by Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) president Amrinder Singh Raja Warring, Partap Singh Bajwa and Amritsar Member of Parliament Gurjeet Singh Aujla, Rahul queued up like an ordinary devotee to pay obeisance at the sanctum sanctorum. He offered ‘karah parsad’ and bowed down in front of Guru Granth Sahib placed inside the sanctum sanctorum. He sat there listening to the Gurbani kirtan. He even ran to extend a helping hand to a falling camera man in the complex.

No Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committe (SGPC) official was seen accompanying him in the Golden Temple and Bajwa was seen informing him about different religious traditions of the Sikhs and historic aspects of the Golden Temple.

Earlier, he flew down to the holy city from Ambala. From the airport, he headed for a nearby hotel, owned by the family of a prominent Congress leader of Tarn Taran.