Uttar Pradesh police have stopped the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, Wayanad MP Priyanka Gandhi and other Congress leaders at Ghazipur while they were en route to violence-hit Sambhal. Security measures by the Uttar Pradesh police to stop the Congress leaders have caused massive traffic blocks on the Delhi-Meerut expressway.
A Congress delegation led by Rahul Gandhi planned a visit to the violence-hit Sambhal, where violence broke out on November 24 over a court-ordered survey of a mosque. Prohibitory orders, including a ban on the entry of outsiders, are in place in Sambhal. Gandhi was accompanied by five other Congress MPs from Uttar Pradesh.
“Police are citing BNS 163 in their missive. So we will insist that they allow at least 4 people. If stopped, we will push for allowing Rahul ji, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra ji, UP incharge Avinash Pande ji and myself to enter,” said Uttar Pradesh Congress chief Ajay Rai.
Last week on Saturday, several Samajwadi Party (SP) MPs were stopped from entering the district. 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 Gandhi at the borders of their districts keeping in mind the communal sensitivity of Sambhal.
The Sambhal district administration has prohibited entry of outsiders into Sambhal till December 10 to maintain law and order in the region. Violent clashes erupted in Sambhal on November 24 after a survey team visited the Shahi Jama Masjid for the second time following a local court’s order.
