New Delhi: The Congress has alleged that security has been suddenly withdrawn from Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ in Kashmir.
Rahul Gandhi himself said in a brief press conference, “Today, during the yatra, the security system of the police has collapsed. After leaving the tunnel, the policemen were not seen. My security personnel said we can’t walk anymore. I had to stop my journey. The others were travelling. It is the responsibility of the administration to control the crowd.”
Earlier, Congress MP KC Venugopal tweeted, “The concerned agencies here have not improved the security system. There has been no security official with the Bharat Jodo visit here for the last 15 minutes. This is a serious lapse. Rahul Gandhi and other passengers cannot walk without any security.”
Rahul Gandhi was supposed to walk 11 km on Friday, but had to stop after walking barely 500 meters. “Due to security reasons, we had to temporarily halt the yatra as there was no security on the approved yatra route,” a senior Congress leader said.
Rajni Patil, Congress in-charge of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, tweeted that the J&K administration “failed to provide security to the Rahul Gandhi-led Bharat Jodo Yatra”. “The security lapses indicate the undue attitude of the union territory administration,” Patil said.
Congress leaders alleged that after reaching Qazigund, Rahul Gandhi started walking towards Vesu in south Kashmir as planned, but Congress workers suddenly found that the outer cordon of security (which was to be managed by the J&K Police) had disappeared.
Earlier, the ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ proceeded from Banihal in Jammu and Kashmir this morning. During this time, a large number of Congress workers and leaders holding the tricolor were seen marching along with Rahul. Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister and National Conference (NC) Vice President Omar Abdullah also joined the Bharat Jodo Yatra in Banihal. Dressed in a white T-shirt like Rahul, Omar joined thousands of Congress party supporters in the padyatra along with Gandhi.