New Delhi: Police and Congress leaders clashed outside the Uttar Pradesh Congress office in Lucknow on Monday after cops tried to stop them from heading towards Sambhal, which has been rocked by violence.
The police prevented a Congress delegation, which was led by state president Ajay Rai, trying to leave from the party office to visit the restive region of Sambhal.
On Monday morning, Lucknow Police had issued a notice to Ajay Rai urging him to defer his visit to Sambhal. Police asked Rai to cooperate in the public interest and ensure that the order passed by the DM of Sambhal, Section 163 BNSS, was not flouted, so that peace was maintained and there was no communal flare-up.
‘We don’t want chaos; we want peace to prevail’
Ajay Rai said: “They issued me a notice, and claimed that my visit will cause chaos. We don’t want chaos; we want peace to prevail. However, I want my leadership to be aware of the atrocity and injustice carried out there by the police and the government. The police gave me a notice, but I will go there peacefully.” The party leaders, including the Uttar Pradesh Congress president Ajay Rai, stayed at the Lucknow party office overnight.
‘Govt is scared it might be exposed’
Earlier, Rai said that a decision was taken by all the party workers that they will stay in one place at our party office. “We decided our future strategy. We will try and follow the Gandhian way since police have been deployed in large numbers outside. Our workers will try to leave by 10.30 am. It is their job to stop them, it is our job to go. The atrocities and injustice that they have carried out there, the way people were thrashed, and shot in the head, the government is scared of these things and is afraid they might be exposed.”
Congress MP Pramod Tiwari said the delegation was going to Sambhal for fact-finding and to restore peace. “The Congress delegation was going to Sambhal for fact-finding and to restore peace, but the district administration has placed Ajay Rai under house arrest. This raises questions — why are they being stopped, and what are they trying to hide?” Tiwari asked.
On November 30, the police and government had stopped a Samajwadi Party (SP) delegation from entering Sambhal district. The administration has extended the ban on the entry of outsiders and public representatives into the area till December 10.
