Senior Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi, who were on their way to violence-hit Sambhal in Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday, were stopped by police at the Ghazipur border.
Reacting to the halt at the Ghazipur border, the Lok Sabha LoP said that he was ready to relinquish his convoy and go to the violence-hit area alone with the police, but the authorities had asked him to return after some days.
He further stated that this is against the rights of the LoP and against the Constitution. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said that as the LoP, Rahul Gandhi has the right to meet the victims of Sambhal violence, and he cannot be stopped.
Earlier in the day, Rahul Gandhi, Wayanad MP Priyanka Gandhi, and other leaders of the grand old party were stopped by police at the Ghazipur border from proceeding ahead to violence-hit Sambhal. Subsequently they returned to Delhi.
“We are trying to go to Sambhal; the police are refusing; they are not allowing us. As LoP, it is my right to go, but they are stopping me. I am ready to go alone; I am ready to go with the police, but they did not accept that too. They are saying that if we come back in a few days, then they will let us go. This is against the rights of the LoP and against the Constitution. We just want to go to Sambhal and see what happened there; we want to meet the people. My constitutional right is not being given to me. This is the new India; this is the India to end the Constitution. This is the India to end Ambedkar’s Constitution. We will keep fighting,” the former Congress chief said.
Priyanka Gandhi, who is an MP from Kerala’s Wayanad, said that as the Leader of the Opposition, Rahul Gandhi has the right to meet the victims of the violence-hit Sambhal, and he cannot be stopped by police at the Ghazipur border from proceeding ahead.
“Whatever happened in Sambhal is wrong. Rahul Gandhi is the leader of the opposition; he has constitutional rights, and he cannot be stopped like this. He has the constitutional right to be allowed to go and meet the victims. He also said that he would go alone with the UP police, but they are not ready to do that either. The police have no answer. Maybe the situation in Uttar Pradesh is such that they cannot handle even this much. Why do they say so arrogantly that they have taken care of the law and order?” Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said.
The violence in Sambhal district erupted on November 24 during an Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) examination of a Mughal-era mosque. The clashes resulted in four fatalities and multiple injuries among police personnel and locals.’ The ASI survey followed a petition filed in a local court, claiming that the mosque’s site was originally a Harihar temple.
