Ensure adequate security for Bharat Jodo Yatra in Kashmir, Congress writes to Amit Shah
On Saturday, the party had put the march on hold alleging a breach of security.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Saturday said that he has written a letter to Union home minister Amit Shah, seeking his intervention in ensuring adequate security during the party’s Bharat Jodo Yatra in Jammu and Kashmir.
Kharge’s letter comes a day after the Congress had put the march on hold in Jammu and Kashmir alleging a breach of security and mismanagement of the crowd by the Union Territory administration. The Bharat Jodo Yatra resumed on Saturday.
Security lapse during #BharatJodoYatra led to its suspension yesterday, after Sh @RahulGandhi’s security detail suggested same.
— Mallikarjun Kharge (@kharge) January 28, 2023
We are expecting a huge gathering, including leaders of imp political parties at its culmination.
My letter to @HMOIndia,Sh @AmitShah in this regard — pic.twitter.com/jjASG8C5LR
Congress MP Rahul Gandhi, who was in Qazigund, was supposed to walk 11 kilometres in the Valley on Friday but could barely cover a kilometre before his security team asked him to stop, saying that there were no police personnel to manage the large crowd that had gathered to receive him.
National Conference leader Omar Abdullah, who was walking with Gandhi, had also said that the outer ring of the security cordon maintained by Jammu and Kashmir Police “simply vanished” as Gandhi entered the Kashmir Valley.
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The Jammu and Kashmir Police, however, denied any lapse in security arrangements and blamed the organisers for not informing them that a crowd would join the march as it entered the Valley.
In his letter to Shah, Kharge termed Friday’s incident as unfortunate but added that he welcomes the Jammu and Kashmir Police’s statement saying that they will continue to ensure complete security till the culmination of the Bharat Jodo Yatra.
Kharge also said the party is expecting a huge gathering to join the Bharat Jodo Yatra in the next two days and that many senior Congress leaders and leaders of other important political parties are likely to attend it on January 30.
“I shall be grateful if you could personally intervene in this matter and advise the concerned officials to provide adequate security till the culmination of the yatra and the function on January 30 at Srinagar,” the Congress president said.
The Bharat Jodo Yatra began in Tamil Nadu on September 7. According to the Congress, the march is aimed at countering the politics of hatred espoused by the BJP. The march is in its final leg in Jammu and Kashmir.