Rahul Gandhi stopped on way to Sambhal: ‘As Leader of Opposition, right to visit’

A CONGRESS delegation led by Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and party MPs Priyanka Gandhi and K C Venugopal was stopped by Uttar Pradesh Police from going to violence-hit Sambhal, at the Ghazipur border with Delhi on Wednesday morning.

After being stuck for around two hours on the six-lane Delhi-Meerut Expressway, which saw deployment of over 200 police personnel, Rahul said, “I am trying to go to Sambhal. It is my right as the Leader of Opposition. The police are not allowing me. I even told them I am ready to go alone or accompanied by them. They told us if I return in a few days, I will be allowed.”

The Gandhis had on Tuesday announced their visit to Sambhal, where four persons were killed and several policemen injured during clashes over a court-ordered survey at the Shahi Jama Masjid on November 24. The court had ordered the survey on a petition that claimed that a temple once stood at the site of the mosque.

After the Congress leaders’ announcement, the Sambhal district administration had written to the Police Commissioners of Gautam Buddh Nagar and Ghaziabad and the SPs of Amroha and Bulandshahr districts, urging them to stop the delegation at the borders of their districts.

Waiting at the border, Rahul held up a pocket-size copy of the Constitution, handed to him by Priyanka, and said the move violated its principles. “All we want is to go to Sambhal, see what happened there, and meet the families. But my constitutional right is not being given to me. This is a new Hindustan… destroying the Constitution of Ambedkar. But we will keep fighting,” he said.

Priyanka questioned claims of maintaining law and order in the state. “Rahul Ji is the Leader of Opposition, the position gives him certain constitutional rights which are different from others. He cannot be stopped this way. He has constitutional position and rights. He even said that he can go alone with police but even this was not allowed,” she said. “If the UP Police is so weak that it cannot control this, then how do you (UP government) say that you have maintained the law and order situation in the state.”