After the Lucknow Police served notice to Uttar Pradesh Congress President Ajay Rai, asking him to postpone his Sambhal visit, the party leader said that he would go to Sambhal “peacefully.”
“They have issued me a notice and have asked me that my visit will cause chaos. Certainly, we also don’t want chaos but peace to prevail. The atrocity and injustice that was done there by the police and the govt, I want my leadership to know this. They (police) gave me notice but I will go there peacefully,” Mr Rai told ANI.
Earlier in the morning, Uttar Pradesh Police issued a notice to Mr Rai asking them not to visit violence-hit Sambhal.
In the notice given to Ajay Rai, he has been informed that “keeping in mind the peace and communal sensitivity in Sambhal district, he should cooperate in the public interest and postpone his proposed program so that the order passed by the District Magistrate of Sambhal district, Section 163 BNSS is not violated.”
“Due to this no outsider/social organization/public representative will enter the boundary of Sambhal district without the permission of the competent officer. Going to Sambhal district with the delegation of Congress Party on 02.12.2024 is not appropriate from the point of view of peace and order,” the notice further read.
A Congress delegation led by the party’s Uttar Pradesh chief is scheduled to visit Sambhal where a stone-pelting incident took place on November 24.
Amid massive security, a three-member judicial committee conducted an inspection near the Shahi Masjid area in Sambhal on Sunday.
The committee members visited the areas and spoke to the residents as well as officials regarding the incident. The panel was accompanied by security personnel as they visited the violence-hit area.
Moradabad Divisional Commissioner Aunjaneya Kumar Singh said that the situation in Sambhal is currently peaceful and the authorities are constantly monitoring the same.
Tensions in Sambhal have been high since November 19, when a local court ordered a survey of the mosque. Clashes between protestors and police over the court-ordered survey of the Jama Masjid resulted in four deaths.