Congressmen and police battled in Guwahati on Tuesday when Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra was not allowed to enter the city via its primary routes, causing tensions to rise.
The conflict started when the Assam government, under the leadership of Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, instructed the yatra to avoid the city and instead take the Guwahati bypass.
Visuals from the scene showed a number of Congress supporters, many of them bearing party flags, tussling with police personnel and attempting to break barricades while Rahul Gandhi looked on from a distance.
The Gandhi scion remarked, “Bajrang Dal and JP Nadda ji’s rallies were taken through this route. However, they are preventing us. Despite our strength and ability to breach obstacles, we Congress workers will not violate the law.”
Congress had originally planned for the yatra to go through the heart of Guwahati, but officials changed the itinerary due to worries about law and order and possible traffic delays. Due to the decision, there was a noticeable police presence at the city’s entry point, Khanapara crossing, when fights broke out between law officers and Congress supporters.
