Headed to Sambhal, Rahul & Priyanka stopped at UP Gate, made to turn back

GHAZIABAD: A Congress convoy led by Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and Wayanad MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra was stopped at UP Gate on the Delhi-Ghaziabad border on Wednesday morning while it was on its way to violence-hit Sambhal.

The incident triggered a political controversy and derailed peak-hour traffic on Delhi-Meerut Expressway, with a jam stretching back nearly 6km in Delhi, affecting vehicles all the way till Mayur Vihar.

After Congress’s announcement about the visit a day before, UP Police on Wednesday deployed around 100 cops at the border and put up multiple tiers of barricades on DME to block the Gandhis’ route to Sambhal.

Oppn should go to Sambhal after peace restored: Dy CM

As the convoy reached the border around 10.30am and was told it cannot proceed, Congress functionaries raised anti-govt slogans while the Gandhi siblings were seen arguing with cops to let them go through.

A senior officer of Ghaziabad police said they “handed over a notice to Rahul Gandhi” that said prohibitory orders under BNSS Section 163 were in place in Sambhal and the Congress team would not be allowed to proceed. Emerging from their car, the Gandhis said UP Police’s action was “unconstitutional”.

Rahul said it was his right as LoP to go to the west UP district where five people were killed in violence during a court-ordered survey of a Mughal-era mosque in Nov.

“As LoP, it is my constitutional right to be able to visit Sambhal. I am ready to go alone. I am ready to go with the police but they did not accept that either. They (police) are saying they will let us go if we come back in a few days,” Rahul, the MP from Rae Bareli, said.

Holding a copy of the Constitution in one hand, Rahul said, “This is new India. This is the India where attempts are being made to abolish Ambedkarji’s Constitution. But we will keep fighting.”

Priyanka also hit out at UP govt. “Maybe the situation in UP is such that they (police and authorities) cannot handle even this much. Then why do they say so arrogantly that they have taken care of law and order?” she asked.

Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate, who was accompanying the Gandhis, later asked if govt had something to hide. “Why did they not let us pass,” she said, alleging that Wednesday’s incident proved how “this govt is muzzling the voice of the opposition”.

Later in the day, Rahul posted on X: “Why is BJP scared – why is it using the police to hide its failures? Why is it suppressing the message of truth and brotherhood?”

UP’s deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya said opposition leaders were doing “drama” to get minorities’ votes. Brajesh Pathak, also deputy CM, said the clashes are being investigated and opposition should support govt in maintaining peace there. “They (opposition) should go there (Sambhal) after peace is restored,” he said.

Before the Congress MPs’ planned visit, Sambhal district magistrate Rajendra Pensia wrote a letter to Gautam Budh Nagar and Ghaziabad police commissioners, and Amroha and Bulandshahr SPs, urging them to stop the Gandhis at the borders of their districts due to “communal sensitivity”.

Courtesy : TOI

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