A Congress delegation led by former party chief Rahul Gandhi visited North East Delhi on Wednesday to assess the damage caused by last week’s communal violence, PTI reported. The delegation, whose first visit came six days after the violence died down, went to a school that was burnt and a nearby mosque in Brijpuri locality.

Gandhi said India was being divided and no one was benefiting from this. He said hate and violence were enemies of development and had destroyed the school that was to be the future of India. “Violence benefits no one, it only harms people and Bharat Mata,” he said.

“Everybody has to work together and take India forward at this time,” Gandhi added, according to ANI. The delegation included party leaders KC Venugopal, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, K Suresh, Mukul Wasnik, Kumari Selja, Gaurav Gogoi and Randeep Surjewala.

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Gandhi said India’s reputation had taken a hit after the violence, NDTV reported.

Meanwhile, Congress leader K Suresh, who was part of the delegation, told ANI that the party was under “tremendous pressure from our constituencies” to visit the violence-affected areas as Congress MPs had not gone there so far but those of Indian Union Muslim League and Left parties had.

Another Congress delegation went to Chand Bagh area, according to PTI.

Large-scale violence in North East Delhi started on February 23 and continued for five days, claiming 47 lives – the worst toll in communal clashes in Delhi since 1984. The Delhi Minorities Commission has alleged that the violence was well-planned and one-sided, and that police was complicit.

The Congress has insisted that the violence be discussed in Parliament ever since the second part of the Budget Session began on Monday. The party has been seeking the resignation of Union Home Minister Amit Shah.