Bharat Jodo Yatra temporarily suspended due to security concerns

The Bharat Jodo Yatra led by Rahul Gandhi was temporarily suspended near Qazigund, the gateway to Kashmir Valley, on Friday after the Congress alleged breach of security and mismanagement of crowd by Jammu and Kashmir administration.

AICC incharge Rajni Patil tweeted that the administration “failed to provide security to Bharat Jodo Yatra”. “Security lapses indicate unfair and unprepared attitude of the UT administration,” she said.

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After reaching Qazigund, Rahul started to walk towards Vessu in South Kashmir as per the plan, but the party workers suddenly discovered that the outer cordon, which was to be managed by Jammu and Kashmir police, had disappeared, alleged Congress leaders. He was scheduled to walk 11 km on Friday, but had to call off after barely walking 500 metres.

“Due to security reasons, we had to stop the yatra temporarily as there was crowd mismanagement along the yatra route approved by the security apparatus,” a senior Congress leader said.

He said while people had turned up in numbers to show their affection for Rahul Gandhi, there were apprehensions regarding the security of the Congress leader as “people were coming too close to him”.

Due to security mismanagement, Rahul’s security did not allow him to walk and he rode his car to the venue of the yatra’s night halt at Khanabal, the Congress leader added.

(With Agency inputs)