Janjivan Bureau / New Delhi: Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge Wednesday accused the BJP and RSS of “tearing the Constitution to shreds” by not allowing Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi to meet the victims of violence in Uttar Pradesh’s Sambhal.
A delegation of Congress leaders led by Rahul Gandhi was stopped by the Uttar Pradesh Police at the Ghazipur border on his way to Sambhal where prohibitory orders are in place. The opposition party leaders, including Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, returned to Delhi after staying at the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border for about two hours.
“The BJP-RSS are busy tearing the Constitution to shreds with its divisive agenda. Preventing the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi from visiting the victim families in Sambhal proves this very thing,” he said in a post in Hindi on X. “Creating hatred between two communities is the only ideology of BJP-RSS. For this, they not only tore apart the Places of Worship Act passed by the Constitution, but now they are hell-bent on opening branches of their market for hatred everywhere,” the Congress chief said.
Kharge said the Congress will continue to “open its shop for spreading harmony, peace, brotherhood, goodwill and love, and will help keep the society united on the lines of unity in diversity”. “We will not bow down, we will not retreat,” he asserted. 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.
