Congress MP Rajiv Shukla said on Tuesday that Rahul Gandhi, the leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha, has left for violence-hit Sambhal with a delegation of party leaders.
Speaking to a section of the media, Shukla said, “Rahul Gandhi and the Congress delegation have left for Sambhal directly from Parliament.”
The visit comes after a stone-pelting incident on November 24, when a team arrived to survey the Shahi Jama Masjid.
Rahul Gandhi criticised the BJP on Monday, saying the ruling party had taken “insensitive actions” in responding to the violence in Sambhal. He claimed that their strategy was deepening rifts and encouraging hatred between the Muslim and Hindu communities.
A 12-member Samajwadi Party delegation is also scheduled to travel to the affected area.
Samajwadi Party leader and Leader of the Opposition in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly, Mata Prasad Pandey, said the delegation intends to look into “police brutality” in the wake of the incident.
“We will meet the families of the youth who lost their lives in the violence. Do the police ever take responsibility for their actions? These days, they carry both government-issued and illegal weapons, using the latter to fire shots,” Pandey claimed.
Markets in Sambhal, Uttar Pradesh, reopened earlier today after the disturbances caused by the stone-throwing incident. The situation in Sambhal has returned to normal, said Muniraj G, the Deputy Inspector General of Police for the Moradabad Range.
“The situation is stable, and the markets are operating normally. People need not worry. Innocent individuals will not face punishment. So far, seven FIRs have been registered, and suspects are being identified using video footage,” DIG Muniraj said.
The Yogi Adityanath government’s handling of the violence has drawn criticism from the opposition, which brought up the matter in Parliament.
Following a petition filed by senior advocate Vishnu Shankar Jain, who maintained that the mosque was once a temple, the Shahi Jama Masjid survey was a part of a judicial proceeding.
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