After being stopped by police at the Ghazipur border citing prohibitory orders, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said that he is ready to go visit violence-hit Sambhal town alone with police, but “not being allowed”. Gandhi, along with his sister and Congress MP from Wayanad Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and other senior Congress leaders reached the Ghazipur border today morning where heavy police force has been deployed and barricades put up to stop them from entering Sambhal.
“As Leader of Opposition, it’s my constitutional right; I should have been allowed,” Gandhi said.
Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said, “Rahul Gandhi is in a constitutional post, has constitutional right; he should be allowed to meet Sambhal victims’ families.”
Massive traffic jam was witnessed at the Ghazipur border on the Delhi-Meerut Expressway on Wednesday morning as Congress workers gathered there defying heavy barricading ahead of Gandhi’s visit to Sambhal, Uttar Pradesh.
The Uttar Pradesh Police has put up barricades and started checking vehicles to prevent any untoward incident.
Members of the Congress’ youth wing raised slogans and waved the party flag as the police stopped Rahul Gandhi at the Ghazipur border citing prohibitory orders. Curbs under Section 163 (power to issue an order in urgent cases of nuisance or apprehended danger) of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), which were set to expire on Sunday, have now been extended till December 31 in Sambhal.
Earlier, Ghaziabad Police Commissioner Ajay Kumar Mishra had told PTI, “We will not permit Rahul Gandhi to Sambhal as prohibitory orders have been issued by the administration there. Police will stop Gandhi at UP gate.”
Tension had been brewing in Sambhal since November 19, when a Mughal-era mosque was surveyed on court orders following claims that a Harihar temple previously stood at the site. Violence erupted during a second survey on November 24 as protesters gathered near Shahi Jama Masjid and clashed with security personnel. Four people were killed in the violence and many more were injured.
