SC should take cognisance of Sambhal issue, deliver justice: Congress

A day after violence rocked Uttar Pradesh's Sambhal, the Congress on Monday accused the BJP of creating a rift between Hindus and Muslims and urged the Supreme Court to intervene in the matter as soon as possible.

Three people were killed and scores of others, including security personnel and administration officials, injured on Sunday as protesters opposing a court-ordered survey of the Shahi Jama Masjid in Sambhal clashed with police. A fourth injured person died on Monday.

In a post in Hindi on X, Gandhi said, "The biased and hasty attitude of the state government on the recent dispute in Sambhal, Uttar Pradesh, is extremely unfortunate. I express my deepest condolences to those who have lost their loved ones in the violence and firing." 

  The administration, without listening to all the parties, insensitively took action that vitiated the atmosphere further and led to the deaths of people -- for which the BJP government is directly responsible, he charged.

"The BJP's use of power to create a rift and discrimination between Hindu-Muslim communities is neither in the interest of the state nor the country. I request the Supreme Court to intervene in the matter as soon as possible and do justice," Gandhi said.

The former Congress chief also appealed for peace and mutual harmony.

"We all have to join together to ensure that India moves forward on the path of unity and constitution, not communalism and hatred," Gandhi asserted.

Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra accused the Yogi Adityanath government of creating divisions while sitting in power and urged the Supreme Court to take cognisance of the matter and deliver justice.

In a post in Hindi on X, Priyanka Gandhi said, "The attitude of the state government regarding the sudden dispute in Sambhal, Uttar Pradesh, is very unfortunate. The way the administration acted in haste in such a sensitive matter without listening to the other side, without taking both the parties into confidence, shows that the government itself spoiled the atmosphere there."  The administration did not even consider it necessary to follow the necessary procedure and duty, the Congress general secretary said.

"Trying to spread discrimination, oppression and division while sitting in power is neither in the interest of the people nor in the interest of the country. The honourable Supreme Court should take cognisance of the matter and do justice," Priyanka Gandhi said.

"My appeal to the people of the state is to maintain peace in all circumstances," she asserted.

The police have lodged seven FIRs in connection with the violence, naming Samajwadi Party MP Zia-ur-Rehman Barq and local Samajwadi Party MLA Iqbal Mehmood's son Sohail Iqbal as accused, officials said on Monday.

The district administration has already imposed prohibitory orders and barred the entry of outsiders into Sambhal till November 30.

The Congress on Sunday alleged that the Adityanath administration was squarely responsible for killing innocents and only the BJP-RSS was guilty of "setting fire" to peace and harmony in Sambhal.

The opposition party had said the videos of direct firing on the protesters depicted the horrifying result of a "well-planned conspiracy" by Adityanath and the BJP-RSS.