Rahul Gandhi visits Saharanpur, says UP govt failed in maintaining law and order

Rahul Gandhi was accompanied by AICC general secretary in charge of UP affairs Ghulam Nabi Azad, and UP Congress chief Raj Babbar.

Pic courtsey: ANI

New Delhi: Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi on Saturday arrived in violence-hit Saharanpur, despite district authorities denying him permission to visit the area.

He is being accompanied by AICC general secretary in charge of UP affairs Ghulam Nabi Azad, and UP Congress chief Raj Babbar.

He travelled from New Delhi by road after his chopper was denied landing permission by the state administration following Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's order to not allow political leaders from visiting Saharanpur. Rahul Gandhi met Congress president Sonia Gandhi before leaving for Saharanpur from New Delhi.

Here are the UPDATES:

- The government has failed in maintaining law and order in UP. Everybody in the country, who is not powerful, is scared. This is not the way to run a country, says Rahul Gandhi.

- I am going back because the administration has told me to do so. As soon as normalcy will be restored, they will take me to the villages: Gandhi

- I wanted to visit Saharanpur but was not allowed. Actually, the authorities had stopped me at the border, but I somehow reached here: Rahul Gandhi

- After meeting the locals, Rahul could be seen engaged in an altercation with the police force where he questioned them as to on what grounds he was not allowed to enter Saharanpur.

- Rahul Gandhi reaches the clash-affected area to take stock of the situation and interacts with locals.

- Police try to stop the Congress vice-president.

- Rahul Gandhi reaches Saharanpur.

- Senior Congress leader PL Punia said on the phone that party men were awaiting Gandhi in the district. "We want the administration to allow him to meet the victims of the violence," he said.

- If Rahul Gandhi still comes to the town, he will be stopped at the border and requested to return. But if he does not, legal action under Section 144 of CrPC, which prohibits an assembly of more than four people in an area, will be taken.

- ADG (Law and Order) Aditya Misra, who is camping in Saharanpur in view of the tense situation there, said police have requested Rahul Gandhi to cancel his visit as it wanted to avoid any "confusion and provocation".

- Taking a swipe at Rahul Gandhi's visit to Saharanpur, Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu on Saturday described the Congress leader as a 'photo opportunist'. Speaking to ANI, Naidu said, "Rahul Gandhi is a photo-opportunist, whenever there is a photo opportunity he always goes there."

- If not permitted to visit the victims in the affected area, Gandhi would court arrest, news agency PTI has quoted sources as saying.

- According to the district Congress leaders, Gandhi will only meet the injured persons in a hospital and not visit the spots where clashes were reported.

- Saharanpur borders have been ordered to be sealed to prevent Rahul Gandhi from visiting survivors of the caste violence that has hit the district.

- Senior civil and police officials, including Deputy Inspector General (Security) Vijay Bhushan, were camping on the Uttar Pradesh-Haryana border at Sarsava to intercept Rahul Gandhi`s motorcade.

- The state government's move comes after the violence in Saharanpur raised with the visit of Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati earlier this week. Former union minister Kumar Shailja and senior Congress leader PL Punia were denied permission to visit Saharanpur.

- "We are committed to ensuring peace and harmony in the region and will not allow any political leader to visit the places that have been singed by caste clashes over the past few days," a senior Home Department official told news agency IANS. He said senior state officials are camping in the district to monitor the situation.

- The permission was denied based on the state policy of keeping the region out of bounds for leaders until the situation returns to normal

- On Friday, the Uttar Pradesh government had denied permission to Gandhi to visit the villages where caste conflicts since May 5 have left at least two dead and over two dozen others injured, until the situation returns to normal.

- The Centre has sent 400 anti-riot police personnel to Saharanpur to help the state restore peace in the region.

- On May 23, another person was shot dead and two others were wounded, following which the government suspended the SSP and district magistrate and transferred the divisional commissioner and the deputy inspector general of police.

- About a dozen police vehicles were set ablaze and 12 policemen were injured on May 09.

- Violence first broke out in Saharanpur about 40 days ago following a procession to mark Ambedkar Jayanti. On May 05, a person was killed and 15 people were injured in clashes.