Rahul not allowed to visit Sankardeva’s birthplace in Assam; Cong blames PM

NAGAON/MORIGAON: The Congress’ Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra in Assam was marked with high drama on Monday, as Rahul Gandhi was not allowed to proceed towards the birthplace of iconic Vaishnav saint Srimanta Sankardeva at Batadrava in Nagaon, besides being barred from holding a meeting in Morigaon district.

As a consequence, the fifth day of the Yatra in the state did not proceed as per the programme chalked out by the party in the two districts. In the evening, Gandhi and his entourage entered Meghalaya.

AICC general secretary Jairam Ramesh alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi exerted pressure on the Assam government to prevent Gandhi from visiting the birthplace of Srimant Sankardeva.

Sankardeva is an Assamese saint-scholar, social-religious reformer, poet, playwright and a towering figure in the cultural and religious history of Assam from the 15th-16th century.

Gandhi had left for the Sattra (Vaisnavite monastery) at Batadrava early in the morning but was stopped at Haibargaon, around 17 km away, prompting him and other party leaders to sit on a dharna.

Tight security arrangements were in force around the sattra.

The Sri Sankardeva Sattra authorities on Sunday announced that they will not allow Gandhi to visit the sattra before 3 pm on January 22, after Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had said at a press conference that he requested Gandhi not to visit it before the consecration ceremony at the Ram Temple in Ayodhya.

‘A rumour was spread that a law and order situation could have risen if Gandhi had visited the place,” Gogoi said.

Gandhi said that they had received an invitation on January 11 but ‘we were told that there is a law and order situation. This is strange as there is a law and order situation in the area, but Gaurav Gogoi and all can go but only Rahul Gandhi cannot go.’

Ramesh said when the authorities had said there could be a law and order problem, Gandhi offered to go there alone but this too was refused.

After Gandhi was not allowed to visit Batadrava, the Morigaon district administration in a letter to the district Congress organisers asked Gandhi to refrain from holding street corner meetings and a foot march as a part of the Yatra saying miscreants may try to disrupt peace in the district.

‘In the interest of Rahul Gandhi’s safety and security, who is a ‘Z plus Advance Security Liasoning (ASL) protectee along with our responsibility to avert any probable law and order disruption in Morigaon district, we request that the party refrain from proposed street corner meeting and padayatra in Morigaon town’, the letter read.

The authorities also requested the party not to stop the carcade during his roadshow at Morigaon district till he reached the Golsepa alighting point for lunch and rest.

The participants of the road event were advised not to physically counter locals protesting the event and leave the same to the deployed police contingent, he said.

The Yatra later entered Meghalaya and it will return to Assam on Tuesday.