Anantnag, Jan 27: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi Friday accused the Jammu and Kashmir administration and police of security lapses forcing the party to suspend the Bharat Jodo Yatra (BJY) that entered Kashmir valley for the last leg.
Gandhi was supposed to walk up to Anantnag as part of the Yatra, but was instead escorted in vehicles. The rest of the participants in the Yatra completed the journey on foot.
A party spokesperson said that the Bharat Jodo Yatra reached Anantnag on Friday and there will be no further events for the day.
Speaking at a press conference in Khanabal Anantnag, Rahul Gandhi said, “This morning we had quite a large crowd that had gathered and we were looking forward to walking for the Bharat Jodo Yatra, but unfortunately the police arrangements completely collapsed.”
“The police who were supposed to manage the crowd and hold the rope were nowhere to be seen,” he added.
The Gandhi family scion said that his security arrangements were very uncomfortable with his walking further in the Yatra.
“I had to cancel my yatra, the other yataries of course did walk,” he said.Rahul said that it is important that the police manage the crowd so that he and party workers could do the Yatra. “It is very difficult for me to go against what my security people recommend,” he added.
Later Jairam Ramesh, Congress General Secretary while talking to the media in the press conference said, “Whatever happened today is very unfortunate.”
He said that the 16 kilometres Yatra which was scheduled from Banihal to Anantnag on Friday where Rahul was only able to walk four kilometres, due to security lapse.
“Rahul’s security team is having a meeting with the administration and these things shouldn’t happen in the remaining days of Yatra,” Ramesh said.
Ramesh further said that on Jan 29 Rahul Gandhi will address the press conference in Srinagar.
“The next day we will hoist a tricolour at Pradesh Congress Committee headquarters in Lal Chowk. We will also be holding a meeting of like minded parties on January 30 that will mark the end of Bharat Jodo Yatra, he said.
The Congress General Secretary said that from January 26, Congress party has started an initiative called “haath se haathjodoabhiyan” in all the states of India.
“During this initiative, the party workers will go to every house with a message from Bharat Jodo Yatra of uniting people and a charge sheet of the failures of the Modi Government will reach each and every household,” he said, adding this will be the biggest initiative of the party.
Talking to media, Congress leader K C Venugopal alleges a security breach as Yatra entered Kashmir in Qazigund. “They (police) were not able to manage the people waiting for Rahul Gandhi, the crowd was easily approaching us and they weren’t able to manage it,” he said.
He said, “The sudden withdrawal of security personnel from the D-area caused a serious security breach at the #Bharat Jodo Yatra at Banihal, Kashmir.”The authorities responsible must answer for this lapse & take appropriate steps to prevent such incidents in future.”
All India Congress Committee (AICC) in-charge J&K Rajani Patil also alleged that the UT administration failed to provide security to the Bharat Jodo Yatra.
She alleged that the J & K UT Administration failed to provide security to Bharat Jodo Yatra led by Rahul Gandhi .”Security lapses indicate unfair and unprepared attitude of UT administration,” she said.
National Conference leader Omar Abdullah Friday alleged that the outer ring of security cordon maintained by Jammu and Kashmir Police “simply vanished” as soon as the Rahul Gandhi-led Bharat Jodo Yatra entered the Kashmir Valley.
The march was stopped on Friday near Qazigund, the gateway to the valley, after the Congress alleged breach of security and mismanagement of crowd by the Jammu and Kashmir administration.
“I’m witness to this. The outer ring of the cordon which was maintained by the Jammu and Kashmir police simply vanished within minutes of Rahul Gandhi starting to walk,” Abdullah said in a tweet.
“We had just crossed into Kashmir from Jammu and were looking forward to the 11-km walk but unfortunately it had to be cancelled,” he said.
Gandhi, after reaching Qazigund, started to walk towards Vessu in South Kashmir according to plan but Congress workers suddenly found that the outer cordon, which was to be managed by the Jammu and Kashmir police, had disappeared, the party’s leaders alleged.
Gandhi was scheduled to walk 11 km on Friday but had to call off after he barely walked 500 metres, they claimed.
“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 claimed.
Gandhi, who started his Bharat Jodo Yatra in Kanyakumari in September and ends it in Srinagar on January 30, said, “It’s the Jammu and Kashmir administration’s responsibility to provide security… I hope security will now be ensured for the remaining days of the yatra.”
“I had to call off my walk because I can’t go against my security people,” the Congress leader said.
His party colleague Jairam Ramesh added that Gandhi’s security team is holding discussions with the Jammu and Kashmir administration to ensure that everything goes off smoothly for the next few days.
