Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka stopped by cops on way to Sambhal

LEADER of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, who was stopped at the Ghazipur border here on Wednesday, said he was ready to go alone to Sambhal with police but was not allowed.

The Rae Bareli MP, his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and other senior Congress leaders reached the Ghazipur border in the morning where heavy police force was deployed and barricades put up to stop them from entering Sambhal. Rahul Gandhi later left for Delhi.

"We are trying to go to Sambhal. Police is refusing, not allowing us. As the leader of opposition in Lok Sabha, it is my right to go... I said that I am ready to go alone, I am ready to go with the police but they did not accept that either," Rahul Gandhi said.

"Now they are saying that if we come back in a few days, they will let us go. This is actually against the right of the leader of opposition in Lok Sabha. I should be allowed to go," he told reporters.

Holding up a copy of the Constitution in his hands, Gandhi said the police's decision was against democracy.

"We want to go to Sambhal and see what happened there. We want to meet the people but I am not being allowed my constitutional right. This is India where attempts are on to end the Constitution. But we will keep fighting," he added.

Wayanad MP Priyanka Vadra said, "What happened in Sambhal was wrong. Rahul ji is the leader of opposition. He has the constitutional right. He is different from other people. He cannot be stopped. He has the constitutional right to go and meet the victims, he should be allowed."

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.

Sambhal District Magistrate Rajendra Pensia on Tuesday wrote a letter to the police commissioners of Gautam Buddh Nagar and Ghaziabad and the superintendents of police of Amroha and Bulandshahr districts, urging them to stop Rahul Gandhi at the borders of their districts.

"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," Ghaziabad Police Commissioner Ajay Kumar Mishra told PTI.

He said ample police force has been deployed at the spot, he said.

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. (PTI)