Rahul, Priyanka stopped on way to Sambhal; traffic chaos on highway

Congress leaders, including Lok Sabha LoP Rahul Gandhi and his sister and MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, were stopped at the Ghazipur border on the Delhi-Meerut Expressway as they were on their way to violence-hit Sambhal on Wednesday (December 4).

The Gandhi siblings had set off for Sambhal in Uttar Pradesh to meet the families of those killed in police firing despite heavy police barricading close to the border with Delhi.

The tense situation led to a massive traffic jam on the otherwise busy Delhi-Meerut Expressway at the border as a large number of Congress workers gathered in Ghaziabad district awaiting Rahul.

Against my rights as LoP: Rahul

Stuck at the Gazipur border, Rahul told the media, "We are trying to go to Sambhal; the police are refusing, they are not allowing us. As LoP, it is my right to go, but they are stopping me."

Rahul said he was ready to go alone or with the police, but the police did not accept that either. "They are saying that if we come back in a few days then they will let us go. This is against the rights of the LoP and against the Constitution," he said.

"We just want to go to Sambhal and see what happened there, we want to meet the people. My constitutional right is not being given to me. This is the new India, this is the India to end the Constitution. This is the India to end Ambedkar's Constitution. We will keep fighting," he added. 

"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," Priyanka told reporters.

Police prepared to foil Rahul visit

The Uttar Pradesh police personnel were busy checking vehicles to foil the planned visit by Rahul and his supporters.

"We have deployed security personnel to prevent any untoward incident," Assistant Commissioner of Police Swatantra Kumar Singh told PTI earlier in the day.

Also read: UP: Barred from Sambhal visit, Congress workers scuffle with police

Officials said that with prohibitory orders in place in Sambhal, Rahul would be stopped at the UP gate in Ghaziabad on his way to the district.

‘No entry for Rahul’

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 and the superintendents of police of Amroha and Bulandshahr districts, urging them to stop Rahul Gandhi at the borders of their districts.

Also read: Sambhal violence: Judicial panel members visit areas where clashes broke out

"We will not permit Rahul Gandhi to Sambhal," Ghaziabad Police Commissioner Ajay Kumar Mishra told PTI.

Mosque row

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.