Crowds throng yatra in Kashmir, Congress pauses it, cites security

After walking for close to three kilometres in the morning, Gandhi drove through the 2.85 km Jawahar tunnel. (Twitter/@BharatJodoYatra)

The Yatra had crossed into Qazigund from Banihal, and was to walk 16 km to Anantnag. At Banihal, Rahul was joined by National Conference leader Omar Abdullah, dressed similarly in a white T-shirt. But hardly had the yatris left the Banihal tunnel that links Jammu to Kashmir, that the two leaders and their aides were thronged and pushed around by a crowd.

Even the Congress seemed surprised by the numbers who had turned up, despite the chilly, wet weather and the 7 degrees Celsius temperature.

As the security ring around Rahul failed to control the people, more police and paramilitary personnel were deployed, but Rahul’s security was not comfortable with the security arrangement and advised him to stop the walk.

The leaders then got into vehicles to drive to Anantnag, while the rest of the yatris continued on foot.

At a hurriedly called press conference at Anantnag, Rahul said: “This morning we had quite a large crowd and we were looking forward to continuing the Bharat Jodo Yatra. But unfortunately, the police arrangements completely collapsed and personnel who were supposed to manage the crowd and hold the rope (to keep off people) were nowhere to be seen. My security people were very uncomfortable with me walking the Yatra and I had to cancel it.”

The Congress leader hoped that the same is not repeated the next three days that the Yatra is in Kashmir, before culminating at Srinagar on January 30.

Congress communications in-charge Jairam Ramesh said: “We had to walk 16 km from Banihal to Anantnag, but could barely walk 4 km… Whatever happened today was unfortunate.”

In a series of tweets, the J&K Police said they had taken all the necessary precautions to secure the Yatra. “Only authorised persons, as identified by organisers, & frisked crowd (were) allowed inside towards the route of Yatra. Organisers & managers of (Bharat Jodo Yatra) did not intimate about the large gathering from Banihal joining the Yatra, which thronged near the starting point,” the police said, adding that they had deployed 15 companies of paramilitary forces and 10 companies of police, including quick response teams.

The police added that it was “not consulted before any decision on discontinuation of the Yatra”. “The rest of the Yatra continued peacefully. There was no security lapse at all,” the police said.

The police added that it was “not consulted before any decision on discontinuation of the Yatra”. “The rest of the Yatra continued peacefully. There was no security lapse at all,” the police said.