India's image has burnt, says Rahul during riot-hit northeast Delhi visit

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday (March 4) said that the country’s reputation is hit due to violence in parts of northeast Delhi which claimed 48 lives and injured more than 200 people.

The former Congress chief, who along with several other party leaders visited the riot-hit areas of the national capital to express solidarity with the victims, said the image of India in the world had been ‘burnt’ as brotherhood and love were the casualties of communal violence.

“India’s image takes a hit when there is violence in the country, in its capital. Brotherhood, love have been burnt here. This is the loss of Hindustan, Bharat Mata. Our reputation in the world has been burnt,” Rahul Gandhi said after visiting a vandalised school in the Brijpuri locality.

Related news: Delhi riots planned, 1,500 to 2,000 outsiders roped in: Minorities agency

“This school is the future of India. Hate and violence have destroyed it. This violence is on no benefit to Bharat Mata. Everybody has to work together and take India forward at this time,” he added.

Party spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala is expected to visit Brijpuri, one of the violence-hit areas alongside Rahul Gandhi and other Congress MPs, who are travelling via a tourist bus expected to make several pit stops in the area.

Meanwhile, the party’s first visit to the area after the four-day bloodbath in the national capital on Wednesday comes a day after the Congress and other opposition parties demanded an immediate discussion on the violence in Parliament.

Related news: 122 houses, 322 shops gutted in Delhi riots: Interim report

While the government seems to be ready for a discussion, Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla has set a date after Holi, which upset the opposition, so much that the Congress on Tuesday (March 3) held a protest near the Gandhi statue in Parliament.

The violence which has now turned into a political tug-of-war led to an uproar followed by frequent adjournments of the Lower House with little to no legislative work conducted over the last two days.

Rahul Gandhi’s northeast Delhi visit is being viewed as one of the few outreach programmes since the previous Lok Sabha elections, after the loss of which he has kept his public appearances minimal.