Industrialists Gautam Adani and Mukesh Ambani bought politicians and media houses but could not buy Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, the party’s general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said on Tuesday.

She made the statement at a rally during the Congress’ Bharat Jodo Yatra. The march resumed on Tuesday after a nine-day break in Delhi, and entered the city of Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh.

Vadra said on Tuesday that the government spent thousands of crores of rupees to destroy her brother’s image, but Gandhi remained on the path of the truth.

“[Investigative] agencies were used to target him, but he was not afraid,” she said. “He is a warrior. Adani ji and Ambani ji bought the biggest of politicians, the country’s public sector units and the country’s media, but they could not buy my brother.”

The Congress has frequently mentioned the names of the two industrialists while accusing the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government of engaging in crony capitalism.

Vadra said that many people had asked her whether she feared for Rahul Gandhi’s safety. “I reply to them by saying that he is wearing the armour of truth,” she remarked. “God will keep him safe, and until all of you recognise the truth, God will protect the truth of this country as well.”

Vadra urged citizens to recognise that their development lies only in the path of unity.

The Congress has said that the Bharat Jodo Yatra, which began from Kanniyakumari in Tamil Nadu on September 7, is aimed at countering the politics of hatred espoused by the BJP.

On Tuesday, former secretary of the Research and Analysis Wing AS Dulat and Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi joined the march.

Several other Opposition leaders, including MK Stalin from the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Aaditya Thackeray from the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) and Kamal Haasan from the Makkal Needhi Maiam, have also joined the march for brief periods of time.

Meanwhile, BJP MP Sudhanshu Trivedi remarked in a sarcastic vein at a press conference that Gandhi’s family “has been engaged in the discovery of India for four generations now”. He referred to The Discovery of India written by freedom fighter Jawaharlal Nehru, who later went on to become India’s first prime minister.

“Rahul ji, Indian culture can be understood not by touring India, but by understanding it,” he remarked.