Rahul-led Congress team barred from visiting violence-hit Sambhal

Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi, his sister and Lok Sabha Member Priyanka Gandhi and other Congress leaders were prevented from visiting the violence-affected Sambhal area in Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday.

The UP Police stopped Congress leaders — who were planning to meet family members of the victims of the police firing — at the Ghazipur border between Delhi and Noida to prevent them from proceeding to Sambhal. There was heavy chaos at the border after Congress workers confronted the police, who blocked the highway.

The Sambhal authorities had requested neighbouring districts to stop Congress leaders before they entered the district. The DM of Sambhal had written to officers in Bulandshahr, Amroha, Ghaziabad, and Gautam Buddha Nagar, urging them to intercept the Congress team at the border.

Restrictions barring the entry of outsiders in Sambhal were imposed after violence erupted over a survey of the Mughal-era Shahi Jama Masjid, following a petition that claimed the site previously had a Hindu temple. Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita-2023 (formerly known as Section 144) has been invoked in Sambhal, prohibiting the gathering of five or more people.

In the Lok Sabha, Congress MP Mohd Javed raised the issue of LoP being stopped from going to Sambhal. Congress and other INDIA parties walked out of the House in protest.

“We tried to go to Sambhal, but were not allowed by the police. As the Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha, I have the right to visit Sambhal, but I have not been allowed to. I said I would go alone but that too is not acceptable to them. This is a new India but we will continue to fight”, Gandhi wrote on X.

Priyanka Gandhi reiterated Rahul’s position, stressing that as a constitutional position holder, Rahul had the right to meet the families of the victims. “Rahul ji is on a constitutional post and has the constitutional right. He should be allowed to meet the victims’ families,” she said.

Ramgopal Yadav, senior Samajwadi Party leader and Rajya Sabha MP, however, slammed Rahul Gandhi and said if the Congress leader was really concerned than he should have raised the issue in the Lok Sabha.