Srinagar: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi who was part of an Opposition delegation that had flown into the city here to take stock of the situation in Jammu and Kashmir was seen in a short video unsuccessfully attempting to convince authorities that the delegation had arrived at the invitation of Governor Satya Pal Malik.
“The thing is I came here on the government’s invitation, the Governor has invited me and when I have come here you are telling that I cannot come. And the government is saying that everything is normal, if everything is normal why are we not allowed out? It’s a bit surprising,” said Rahul Gandhi.
“We want to go to any area that is peaceful and meet 10-15 people. If it’s late then I will go individually and not in the group,” Gandhi is heard saying in the video.
Opposition leaders, who had flown to take stock of the ground situation in Jammu and Kashmir on Saturday, alleged that they were detained at the airport in Srinagar in an ‘unconstitutional’ and ‘undemocratic’ manner.
Talking to media persons in Delhi after they were sent back by the administration of Jammu and Kashmir, CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury said that they have written to District Magistrate of Budgam stating that their detention at Srinagar airport was ‘undemocratic and unconstitutional.’
A delegation of parties including Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was on Saturday not allowed to go out of Srinagar airport and was sent back to Delhi. The delegation comprising leaders of opposition parties like Congress, CPI, DMK, RJD, TMC, NCP, and JDS to see the ground reality days after the Centre abrogated provisions of Article 370.
Senior leaders like Ghulam Nabi Azad Congress, Anand Sharma, Sitaram Yechury, Sharad Yadav, Manoj Jha, Majeed Memon, Tiruchi Shiva, and D Raja were the part of the delegation which left from Delhi for Srinagar earlier in the day.
Before leaving from Delhi airport, the leaders had insisted that they were only going to assess the ground realities and not for creating any disturbance.