Rahul Gandhi, other Congress MPs from UP to visit Sambhal on Wednesday amid curbs
Lucknow/Sambhal, Dec 3: Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi along with the five other Congress MPs from Uttar Pradesh will visit violence-hit Sambhal on Wednesday, party's state unit chief Ajay Rai said.
Newly-elected Wayanad MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is also likely to accompany the delegation, he said.
The party's general secretary and UP in-charge Avinash Pande will be there too, Rai told PTI.
Curbs under section 163 (power to issue order in urgent cases of nuisance or apprehended danger) of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) were set to expire on Sunday in Sambhal and have now been extended till December 31.
When asked about Rahul Gandhi's visit to Sambhal, Superintendent of Police of Sambhal Krishan Kumar told PTI, "Section 163 of the BNSS is already imposed in Sambhal. No outsider is allowed (to enter Sambhal). If they come, then they will be served a notice."
Sambhal District Magistrate Rajendra Pensia on Tuesday wrote a letter to the police commissioners of Gautam Buddh Nagar and Ghaziabad and the superintendents of police of Amroha and Bulandshahr districts, urging them to stop Rahul Gandhi at the borders of their districts.
On the Sambhal DM's missive, UP Congress chief Rai said that this is "murder of democracy through blatant misuse of police".
Sambhal has been in the eye of the storm 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 died and several others were injured in the violence that ensued.
Meanwhile, UP Congress general secretary Sachin Chaudhary told PTI in Sambhal, "National secretary Pradeep Narwal, state vice-president Rizwan Qureshi and I met the family members of deceased Bilal and Noman, and helped them talk to Priyanka Gandhi ji. Priyanka ji enquired about their wellbeing."
Chaudhary also said that Rahul Gandhi will come to Sambhal on Wednesday and there is a programme to meet the family members of the deceased.
Samajwadi Party MLA from Sambhal Iqbal Mahmood late on Monday evening said that he had gone to meet the families of the four deceased and expressed sympathy to them.
"The atrocities that have been committed in Sambhal will be raised in the Parliament and state assembly, and after December 10, a Samajwadi Party delegation will come here. There are some things that these people want to hide. When such incidents happen in any part of the country, everyone wants to go there," Mahmood told reporters.
The SP MLA said his party has demanded that this incident should be investigated by a sitting judge of the high court.
"We do not have faith in the judicial commission inquiry. The governor and the chief minister have formed the panel...it will work under the pressure of the government," he said.
UP's Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Co-operative JPS Rathore on Tuesday took a jibe at the Samajwadi Party and Congress, and said, "It seems that there is race between them as to who is a bigger well-wisher. I think that everything is under control in Sambhal, and there is peace and harmony there."
"People should not go there to provoke the residents. Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi speaks a lot on international issues, but when it comes to Bangladesh, he is silent," Rathore said.
Meanwhile, Maulana Tauqeer Raza, the president of Ittehad-e-Millat Council (IEMC), on Tuesday said that anything can come out from the excavation of religious places, and it would be better to abandon the idea of excavation in the country and to work towards development.
Speaking to reporters in Bareilly, Raza said, "For the unity and integrity of the country, the idea of excavation should be abandoned and development should be thought about. Skeletons of extinct dinosaurs can also be found."
"Times are changing. We should move with the changing time," he said.
Raza also expressed displeasure over not being allowed to meet the people, who were injured in the Sambhal violence, in the private medical college hospital.
He also alleged that the government itself is creating riots and blaming others.
Mufti Afqan, a member of the working committee of Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind said that a financial assistance of Rs 5 lakh each was given to the kin of the deceased.
On Monday, scores of Congress workers jostled with police personnel and tried to scale barricades outside the party office in Lucknow as a party delegation led by Rai was prevented from leaving for Sambhal, which has been made out of bounds by administration after the November 24 violence.
Amid high drama, Rai, who took the driver's seat in his car with senior party leader PL Punia next to him, could not leave for the "fact-finding" visit even as scuffles broke out between the police and the slogan-shouting party workers, who tried to clear the way for their leaders.
Rai drove the car to some distance inside the Congress office complex but it was stopped by the police at the gate. After this, he sat on a dharna outside the party office along with Congress workers, Punia had said.
The Congress slammed the BJP government, saying it was trying to hide its failure with its "anti-democratic" actions. Rai, who had spent the night at the Congress office along with several party workers, later said the party delegation will visit Sambhal when prohibitory orders are lifted.
The BJP hit back with deputy chief ministers Keshav Prasad Maurya and Brajesh Pathak accusing Congress and Samajwadi Party leaders of going to Sambhal for "political tourism". They alleged that the opposition wanted to spoil the "peaceful" atmosphere in the district.
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Trump says EU has until July 4 to approve last year's trade deal or it will face higher tariffs
Washington (AP): President Donald Trump has said in a social media post that goods from the European Union would face higher tariff rates if the 27-member bloc fails to approve last year's trade framework by July 4.
The announcement on Thursday appeared to be a deadline extension after the president said last Friday that EU autos would face a higher 25 per cent tariff starting this week. Trump made the updated announcement after what he described as a "great call" with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
Still, the US president was displeased that the European Parliament had yet to finalize the trade arrangement reached last year, which was further complicated in February by the US Supreme Court ruling that Trump lacked the legal authority to declare an economic emergency to impose the initial tariffs used to pressure the EU into talks.
"A promise was made that the EU would deliver their side of the Deal and, as per Agreement, cut their Tariffs to ZERO!" Trump posted. "I agreed to give her until our Country's 250th Birthday or, unfortunately, their Tariffs would immediately jump to much higher levels."
It was unclear from the post whether Trump was implying that the tariff rates would jump on all EU goods or the increase would only apply to autos.
His latest statement indicates he might be backing away from his earlier threat on EU autos by giving the European Parliament several more weeks to approve the agreement.
Under the original terms of the framework, the US would charge a 15 per cent tax on most goods imported from the EU.
But since the Supreme Court ruling, the administration has levied a 10 per cent tariff while investigating trade imbalances and national security issues, aiming to put in new tariffs to make up for lost revenues.
