Khanabal: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday said he had to cancel his walk for the day because police arrangements by the Jammu and Kashmir administration “unfortunately completely collapsed”.
Gandhi, who began his yatra from Banihal in Jammu region, crossed the Jawahar tunnel into the Valley in Qazigund in a bulletproof vehicle but could walk for barely 500 metres after that. He was asked by his security team to stop given the absence of police personnel to manage the large crowd that had gathered to receive him.
“Police personnel who were supposed to manage the crowd were nowhere to be seen,” the former Congress president told reporters here in a brief statement.
He was supposed to walk 11 km to Vessu before halting for the night at the Khanabal dak bungalow in Anantnag district.
“It’s the Jammu and Kashmir administration’s responsibility to provide security… I hope security will now be ensured for remaining days of the yatra. I don’t know why it happened but tomorrow and day after tomorrow it should not happen,” Gandhi said in the unscheduled meeting with reporters.
However, he did not take any questions, saying that interaction would be reserved for Sunday.
“I had to call off my walk because I can’t go against my security people,” the Congress leader, who started his Bharat Jodo Yatra in Kanyakumari in September and ends it in Srinagar on January 30, said.
Terming the incident a “big security lapse”, his party colleague Jairam Ramesh said 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.
“Politics has its place but by playing with Rahul Gandhi’s security in Jammu and Kashmir, the government has stooped to its lowest level,” the Congress general secretary added in a tweet in Hindi.
India, he said, has already lost Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi and any government or administration should desist from playing politics on such issues.
Several party leaders echoed his concern, accusing the government of withdrawing security personnel around Gandhi and demanding action against those responsible for the alleged breach.
“Who ordered this?” asked AICC general secretary K C Venugopal.
“The authorities responsible must answer for this lapse and take appropriate steps to prevent such incidents in future,” he said on Twitter
Jammu and Kashmir’s AICC in-charge Rajni Patil said “the security lapses indicate unfair and unprepared attitude of the UT administration”.
“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 said.
Gandhi’s security insisted that he stop the walk immediately and he drove instead to the guesthouse in Khanabal.
The morning started early with National Conference leader and former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah joining Gandhi for the walk. Both leaders were dressed in similar white T-shirts in the 7 degrees Celsius chill.
Gandhi’s white T-shirt look, even in north India’s severe winter days, has been the subject of much debate and discussion.
They had walked for about three kilometres in the morning and drove through the 2.85 km Jawahar tunnel. After crossing the tunnel, party leaders accompanying Gandhi found there were no policeman to provide security at the scheduled halt.
Gandhi’s security team did not allow him to step out of the car.
The Congress leader will resume his journey on Saturday from Awantipora, 33 km from Srinagar.
No security lapse at Bharat Jodo Yatra, says J-K police
There was no security lapse at the Bharat Jodo Yatra, a senior Jammu and Kashmir police official said on Friday while stressing that the organisers had not informed the police about a large crowd joining the march from Banihal.
“The Jammu and Kashmir police was not consulted before the Bharat Jodo Yatra was discontinued. We will provide foolproof security (to the yatra),” Additional Director General of Police Vijay Kumar, who is in charge of security in Kashmir Valley, said in a statement.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said he had to call off his walk on Friday because police arrangements “unfortunately completely collapsed” when the yatra crossed Banihal into Qazigund in the Valley through the Jawahar tunnel.
“Only authorised persons as identified by organisers and frisked crowd were allowed inside towards the route of the yatra. Organisers and managers of the BJY did not intimate about large gathering from Banihal joining the yatra,” Kumar said.
Crowds, he said, were thronging Qazigund.
“Full security arrangements were in place… JK Police was not consulted before taking any decision on discontinuation of the yatra,” he added.
“The rest of the yatra continued peacefully. There was no security lapse at all,” Kumar said in the statement.
Omar Abdullah joins Bharat Jodo Yatra from Banihal
NC leader Omar Abdullah Friday joined the Bharat Jodo Yatra here, saying that the Rahul Gandhi-led march is not being carried out for the image makeover of the Congress leader, but rather to change the situation and atmosphere of the country.
The former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir said he does not want to delve into Congress’ stand on the revocation of the special status of Jammu and Kashmir.
“The Bharat Jodo Yatra is not aimed at improving the image of Rahul Gandhi but for improving the situation in the country,” the National Conference (NC) leader told reporters upon his arrival in this highway town, 120 kilometres from Srinagar.
Abdullah said he joined the yatra as he was more concerned about the image of the country.
“We have not joined this for the image of an individual but for the image of the county,” he said.
The NC leader further said Gandhi did not start the yatra for personal reasons but due to his concern over the attempts to create communal tensions and target minorities in the country.
“This government might be making friends with Arab countries but the fact remains that there is no representative in this government from the largest minority of the country,” he said.
“It might be for the first time since Independence that the ruling party does not have a single member of parliament — either in Lok Sabha or Rajya Sabha — from the Muslim community. It shows their attitude, ” he added.
Speaking on the Congress’s stand on the abrogation of Article 370, Abdullah said, “We will fight the case for the restoration of Article 370 in the court. The way the government is dragging its feet on the hearing of the petition tells us that our case is very strong.”
On the elections in Jammu and Kashmir, he said it has been eight years.
“The last assembly elections were held in 2014. This has been the longest period between the two elections in Jammu and Kashmir. It was not the case even at the peak of militancy,” he said.
Omar said the government wants the people of Jammu and Kashmir to beg for elections.
“We are not beggars and we won’t beg for it,” he said.
