Rahul invokes Kashmiri Pandit origin during Jammu visit

Jammu, Sep 10 (IANS) Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said on Friday that he is a Kashmiri Pandit and feels at home whenever he visits Jammu and Kashmir.

Rahul Gandhi is on a two-day visit to Jammu. He visited the Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine in Reasi district on Wednesday.

"My family is a Kashmiri Pandit family. A delegation of Kashmiri Pandits met me today.

"They said the BJP has done nothing for them while the Congress had implemented many welfare schemes for them. I promise my Kashmiri Pandit brothers that I will do something for them.

"J&K has a special place in my heart, but I am pained also. There is brotherhood in J&K, but the BJP and the RSS are trying to break the bond of that brotherhood."

He said the BJP had snatched away the statehood from the people of J&K which should be restored.

He raised his hand and said, "Hand means 'Daro Mat'. You can see hand in pictures of Lord Shiva and Wahe Guru."

He said after J&K, he would also be visiting Ladakh.

He paid obeisance at the Mata Vaishno Devi shrine where he was accompanied by J&K Congress president G.A.Mir and many party workers and supporters during his 13 kilometre long trek to the shrine.