Congress workers scuffle with cops after party delegation stopped from visiting Sambhal

Lucknow: Congress workers jostled with police personnel and tried to scale barricades outside the party office in Lucknow on Monday as a party delegation led by its Uttar Pradesh unit chief Ajay Rai was prevented from leaving for Sambhal, which has been out of bounds for parties after the Nov 24 violence.
The Congress had announced last week that it would head to Sambhal on Dec 2.
However, as soon as the Congress functionaries, led by Ajay Rai, came out of the party headquarters, UP police stopped them on the grounds that the party's request for visit had been denied by the Sambhal district administration.
By noon, Congress workers gathered at the party office and started chanting anti-govt slogans. They also tried to jump over the police barricade in Mall Avenue area.
The drama continued for about an hour, with the Congress functionaries deciding to "take the path of peace and patience".
Reacting to the police move, Congress accused the Yogi Adityanath govt of putting its functionaries under house arrest to prevent them from visiting Sambhal.
A party spokesperson said that around 9.30am, a team of police officials met Ajay Rai and handed over an official document to him. "They asked us not to visit Sambhal in view of communal sensitivity in the district. They asked us to cooperate with the administration in public interest and handed over a copy of the denial of permission by the district magistrate of Sambhal, in which reference of Section 163 of the Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) was made," the spokesperson said.
Speaking to TOI, state president Ajay Rai said, "Heavy police force was deployed outside my residence and UP Congress headquarters to prevent us from heading to Sambhal. We are the voice of opposition in India but are being treated like criminals."
"Why is the BJP govt afraid? It is our democratic right to meet people in Sambhal and try to establish peace," he said.
Later, talking to reporters, Rai said: "Congress believes in peace and has enough patience to wait. We have not given up our decision to meet the grief-stricken families in Sambhal. We are just postponing it at the request of the govt. We have been informed that the BNS section 163 restriction shall remain effective till Dec 10. We will try and meet the families thereafter," Rai told reporters.
Congress MLA Aradhana Mishra Mona said that the BJP was behaving in an autocratic manner, but it would never be able to curb the voice of the opposition.
"We want to go to Sambhal for fact-finding and to appeal to people to maintain peace, but we have been denied permission. Why has the govt put us under house arrest," she questioned.
Senior functionary PL Punia also condemned the BJP's action.