Rahul Gandhi competing with ally Samajwadi Party for minority votes, alleges BJP on stalled Sambhal visit

Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra were stopped at the Ghazipur border as prohibitory orders were in place in the district

The BJP on Wednesday (December 4, 2024) flayed Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for trying to visit Sambhal in Uttar Pradesh without giving prior intimation to authorities and alleged that it was an act of sheer desperation as his party is competing with ally Samajwadi Party for the votes of the minority community.

Entry of outsiders has been restricted in Sambhal district till December 31 in the wake of the November 24 violence during a protest against a court-ordered survey of a mosque.

Addressing a press conference at the BJP headquarters here, party national spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi said Gandhi did not try to visit Sambhal out of “any sympathy” but to grab media attention and get a “better photo-op” than the leaders of his party’s ally Samajwadi Party.

Mr. Gandhi, 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.

“They were stopped at the Ghazipur border as prohibitory orders were in place in the district,” a senior police officer said.

"Rahul Gandhi had gone there without taking his partner in the INDI Alliance with him just to grab media attention. There is a conflict going on between the two parties,” Mr. Trivedi said in an apparent reference to the Congress and the Samajwadi party.

He said Mr. Gandhi, who is the Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha, was required to give a prior intimation to the authorities about his visit because he has been “highest level of security” after the Prime Minister. “Rahul Gandhi has Z-plus ASL security. ASL means advanced security liaison. This is the highest level of security after the Prime Minister's. Only the Home Minister and the Defence Minister have this security besides him (Mr. Gandhi),” he added.

Mr. Trivedi said that a person with such a high level of security cover is required to give prior intimation to the authorities concerned about his programme so that the police sanitise the area to be visited by him and give security clearance.

“If you honestly wanted to go there (Sambhal) and he actually had some sympathy, he would have given an intimation (to the authorities) in advance…You did not have any intention to go there. You just did a formality and then returned,” he said slamming Mr. Gandhi.

“This so-called yatra of the Congress was motivated by mutual competition among the parties in the INDI alliance to capture and get hold of the core vote. The core vote for which INDI Alliance constituents came together. Nowhere any sympathy for people is visible in it,” the BJP Rajya Sabha MP added.

The BJP has been using the term "core vote" to refer to Muslim voters who, it claims, form a significant portion of the supporters of the Congress and other INDIA bloc parties.

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.

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.

Published - December 04, 2024 04:28 pm IST