Bharat Jodo Yatra in Delhi: Highlighting Delhi Police's failure to control crowd when Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's Bharat Jodo Yatra entered the national capital, the party on Wednesday wrote to Union Home Minister Amit Shah. It also requested Shah 'to take immediate steps to ensure the safety and security of Rahul Gandhi and of all the Bharat Yatris and leaders joining Bharat Jodo Yatra.'
Notably, Delhi Police comes under the purview of the Home Ministry directly.
Thousands of supporters walked behind former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi on December 24 as he led the Bharat Jodo Yatra from Badarpur border to Ashram. However, as the leader marched towards the Red Fort, many people in an attempt to click a selfie with Rahul Gandhi, came too close leading to chaos and stampede-like situation.
In the letter, addressed to Home Minister Amit Shah, Congress' KC Venugopal said, "I invite your kind attention to significant security breaches in the Bharat Jodo Yatra. As Bharat Jodo Yatra entered Delhi, on 24th December 2022, the security of the Bharat Jodo Yatra was compromised on multiple occasions, and the Delhi police completely failed in controlling the surging crowd and maintaining a perimeter around Shri Rahul Gandhi, who is assigned Z+ Security. The situation was so severe that the Congress workers and the Bharat Yatris walking along with Shri Rahul Gandhi had to form the perimeter. At the same time, the Delhi police remained as mute spectators."
"Furthermore, to harass participants and prevent eminent personalities from joining the Bharat Jodo Yatra, Intelligence Bureau is interrogating many people who participated in the Bharat Jodo Yatra. Moreover, we filed an FIR dated 23rd December 2022 at Sohna City Police Station Haryana regarding unknown miscreants, belonging to Haryana State Intelligence, illegally entering Bharat Jodo Yatra's containers in Haryana," he added.
Reminding the Home Minister of Congress leaders sacrifice, Venugopal said, "The Congress Party's two Prime Ministers Smt. Indira Gandhi and Shri Rajiv Gandhi sacrificed their lives for the unity and integrity of the country. The Congress's entire state leadership of Chhattisgarh was wiped out in a Naxal attack in Jiramghati on 25th May 2013."
"Moving forward, Bharat Jodo Yatra is slated to enter the sensitive state of Punjab and J&K in the next phase starting from January 3, 2022. In this regard, request you to take immediate steps to ensure the safety and security of Shri Rahul Gandhi, a Z+ protectee, and of all the Bharat Yatris and leaders joining the Bharat Jodo Yatra," he added.
