A delegation of Congress leaders led by Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi was stopped by the Uttar Pradesh Police at the Ghazipur border here on Wednesday on his way to Sambhal.
The opposition party leaders, including Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, returned to Delhi after staying at the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border for about two hours.
A massive traffic jam was witnessed at the Ghazipur border on the Delhi-Meerut Expressway in the morning as Congress workers gathered there defying heavy barricading. With the carriageway from Delhi to Uttar Pradesh heavily congested, commuters faced a harrowing time in reaching their destination.
Congress legislative party leader in Uttar Pradesh Assembly Aradhana Mishra Mona claimed in Lucknow that she was supposed to be a part of the Congress delegation but has been put under "house arrest".
"I am under house arrest. This is hooliganism and anarchy by the government. Rahul ji, the Congress party and I will visit Sambhal today, tomorrow or whenever we can," she said.
Prohibitory orders are in place in Sambhal where violence erupted on November 24 over a court-ordered mosque survey, killing four people and injuring several others.
After being stopped at the Ghazipur border, Rahul Gandhi said he was ready to go alone to Sambhal with police but was not allowed.
BJP leaders in Uttar Pradesh decried the Congress' move as a "drama" aimed at "appeasing its Muslim vote bank".
"We are trying to go to Sambhal. Police are 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 amid heavy security at the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border, Rahul 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'm not being allowed my constitutional right. This is India where attempts are on to end the Constitution. But we will keep fighting," he added.
Priyanka Vadra said what happened in Sambhal was wrong and as the LoP, Rahul Gandhi has the constitutional right to visit it.
"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," the Wayanad Lok Sabha MP added.
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 to the police commissioners of Gautam Buddh Nagar and Ghaziabad as well as the police chiefs of Amroha and Bulandshahr districts, urging them to stop Rahul Gandhi in their districts.
Earlier in the day, Ghaziabad Police Commissioner Ajay Kumar Mishra said, "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," he told PTI.
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 ShahiJama Masjid and clashed with security personnel. Four people were killed in the violence and many more were injured.
Uttar Pradesh's Deputy Chief Ministers Keshav Prasad Maurya and Brajesh Pathak slammed the Congress for its decision to visit Sambhal.
"Both Akhilesh (Yadav) and Rahul (Gandhi) are trying to do politics of getting Muslim votes. They are enacting a drama. The decline of SP and Congress is certain. SP will become 'Samaptawadi Party' and there will be Congress-mukt Bharat," Maurya said.
He alleged that both the Samajwadi Party and the Congress were trying to vitiate the atmosphere in the state and claimed that the Samabhal violence was a fallout of a rivalry between an SP MLA and MP.
Pathak said an independent probe is on in the Sambhal violence and the opposition Should support the government in maintaining peace there.
"They (opposition) should go there (Sambhal) after peace is restored and attend 'Walima' (Muslim wedding ritual) there," he added.
Congress General Secretary (organisation) K C Venugopal questioned the reason behind the Uttar Pradesh government stopping the opposition delegation from meeting the families of the violence-hit families in Sambhal.
"It is basic humanity to stand by someone who has suffered such grief and loss. Rahul ji's motto has been 'Nafrat ke bazaar mein mohabbat ki dukaan' (shop of love in a market of hate). And when the ruling regime has created an atmosphere of hatred, it is our duty as the opposition to bring compassion, empathy and love," he posted on X.
"We are determined to meet the victims' families in the interest of peace and communal harmony in our country. The UP government must allow the delegation to visit Sambhal," he added.
