No inputs of threat to Rahul Gandhi-led Bharat Jodo Yatra: DGP
Srinagar: DGP Dilbag Singh on Tuesday said there are no inputs of a possible threat to Rahul Gandhi-led ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ and that adequate security will be provided to the march when it reaches the Union territory.
“The Yatra will enter Jammu from Punjab in a day or two. For a few days, the march will be in different districts of Jammu and then it will enter the Kashmir Valley.
“The Yatra will be in Kashmir for three to four days. We have discussed that (in the security review meeting). We have discussed the arrangements at the range-level and the district-level. Whatever security measures need to be taken, they will be taken,” Singh told reporters here.
The march, which started from Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu on September 7, will conclude with Gandhi hoisting the national flag in Srinagar. It has so far covered Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Punjab.
Asked if there was any threat input about the Yatra, the top cop said, “There is no such input.”
To a question on whether the Yatra will be allowed on foot, he replied that it will be regulated in such a manner that people do not face any inconvenience.
“These things will be regulated because there is traffic and other things. A huge yatra can cause inconvenience to people as roads can get blocked. This is a Yatra and is taken both on foot as well as using vehicles.
“Our endeavour will be to take forward the march with vehicles wherever there is a single road, and in rest of the places, the participants may be advised to walk on foot where the roads allow,” Singh said.
He asserted that the Yatra can be “guided from the security point of view as well wherever it is needed”.
AICC J-K in-charge Rajni Patil, earlier in the day, said the Jammu and Kashmir administration has granted permission for a mega rally to mark the culmination of the Bharat Jodo Yatra at Srinagar’s Sher-e-Kashmir Stadium on January 30.
She said the Yatra will enter Lakhanpur (in Jammu and Kashmir) from Punjab Thursday evening.
“After halting for the night, Gandhi will lead the yatra from Hatli Morh in Kathua from 7 am the next morning (January 20),” Patil said, adding that the rally will reach Jammu on January 23.
She added that Gandhi will leave the Union territory on January 24, crossing Udhampur and Ramban towns.
She said the yatra had generated tremendous response from the first day.
The march, which started from Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu on September 7, will conclude with Gandhi hoisting the national flag in Srinagar. It has so far covered Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Punjab.
“The yatra will enter Lakhanpur (in Jammu and Kashmir) from Punjab on Thursday evening. The flag handover ceremony will take place near Maharaja Gulab Singh’s statue between 5.45 pm and 6.15 pm.
“After halting for the night, Gandhi will lead the yatra from Hatli Morh in Kathua from 7 am the next morning,” Patil said.
The rally will reach Jammu on January 23. “We are planning a rally in the city and have applied for permission from the administration. We are hopeful of getting it as well,” the Congress leader said.
She said a Congress delegation met the Additional Director-General of Police on Tuesday and discussed in detail the yatra’s security aspects.
National Conference President Farooq Abdullah, Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut and leaders of other parties will join the yatra in Lakhanpur, Patil said, adding former minister Lal Singh had also expressed his desire to welcome the yatra.
“National Conference Vice-President Omar Abdullah will join the yatra after it crosses the Banihal tunnel into Kashmir, while People’s Democratic Party chief Mehbooba Mufti has informed that she and her mother and daughter would also join,” she said.
Patil said anyone who believed in Gandhi’s ideology of uniting the country and the philosophy of the Congress were welcome to be part of the yatra.
She said many people had expressed reservations about the response to the foot march in Jammu and Kashmir but “I want to tell them that the yatra will be a grand success here as well like it generated the response while moving from various states”.
Asked whether the Congress expected any leaders to join the party during the yatra, she said Gandhi had made it clear that the march was apolitical and only meant to unite the country against hatred.
However, the party will inform Gandhi about pressing issues such as the government’s land eviction drive and the demands of Kashmiri Pandits, she added.
Several delegations are also expected to meet Gandhi during the yatra, Patil said. A 40-member delegation from Ladakh will brief the Congress leader about their problems, she added.
Gandhi is also likely to address two press conferences — one each in Jammu and Srinagar.
Press Trust of India
