Massive traffic jam at Ghazipur border as Rahul Gandhi stopped on way to Sambhal

New Delhi: Commuters suffered a massive traffic jam at the Ghazipur border on the Delhi-Meerut Expressway on Wednesday morning as Congress workers gathered there, defying heavy barricading meant to stop Rahul Gandhi from visiting Sambhal.

A delegation of Congress leaders led by the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi was stopped by the Uttar Pradesh Police at the Ghazipur border on his way to Sambhal.

The opposition party leaders, including Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, returned to Delhi after staying at the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border for about two hours.

The Uttar Pradesh Police put up barricades and checked vehicles to prevent any untoward incident. With the carriageway from Delhi to Uttar Pradesh heavily congested, commuters faced a harrowing time in reaching their destinations. The other carriageway was open, but the vehicles moved at a snail's speed.

Members of the Congress' youth wing raised slogans and waved the party flag as the police stopped Gandhi, citing prohibitory orders in place in Sambhal.

A scuffle broke out near the barricades. Prime facie, it seemed that some commuters and Congress workers clashed with each other at the border.

"We had inputs about the gathering on the highway. We deployed security personnel to prevent any untoward incident," Assistant Commissioner of Police Swatantra Kumar Singh told PTI videos.

Curbs under Section 163 (power to issue an order in urgent cases of nuisance or apprehended danger) of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), which were set to expire on Sunday, have now been extended till December 31 in Sambhal.

Earlier, Ghaziabad Police Commissioner Ajay Kumar Mishra told PTI, "We will not permit Rahul Gandhi to Sambhal as prohibitory orders have been issued by the administration there. Police will stop Gandhi at UP gate." A senior Delhi Police officer said the force has been deployed at the border to manage traffic, which is being diverted.

Ashish Saxena, a resident of Noida, stuck in the jam for close to half an hour, said, "I was returning from the railway station and found myself in this traffic jam. If I had known about this, I would have taken an alternate route to get home." Tension had been brewing in Sambhal since November 19, when a Mughal-era mosque was surveyed on court orders following claims that a Harihar temple previously stood at the site.

Violence erupted during a second survey on November 24 as protesters gathered near Shahi Jama Masjid and clashed with security personnel. Four people were killed in the violence and many more were injured.