Row erupts as Rahul Gandhi not allowed to visit holy site in Assam

A political row erupted in Assam on Monday after Rahul Gandhi was denied permission to visit a temple in Nagaon district by police authorities citing law and order situation, with the Congress leader asking whether Prime Minister Narendra Modi will now “decide who will visit a temple and when.”

Gandhi, whose Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra is currently traversing the northeastern state, had left early in the morning for Sri Sri Sankardeva Satra, popularly known as Batadrava Than, the birthplace of 15th-century social reformer-saint Srimanta Sankardeva and a sacred site for Vaishnavites, but he was stopped at Haibargaon around 9am.

He then sat on a dharna along with other party leaders. In a video shared by Gandhi on X, he could be heard asking police authorities as to why he was being stopped from visiting Batadrava Than. “Will PM Modi now decide who will visit a temple and when?... We do not want to create any problems and simply pray at the temple,” Gandhi told the police authorities. “Probably, today only one person can go to the temple,” he added in an apparent reference to PM Modi’s visit to the Ram Temple consecration function in Ayodhya.

After discussions with security officials for almost an hour, Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi and Batadrava legislator Sibamoni Bora were allowed to visit the temple to offer prayers. Gandhi attacked the state government, calling it “strange” that others can go to the temple but “only Rahul Gandhi cannot go.”

On Sunday, chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma at a press conference urged Gandhi not to visit the Satra during the period of consecration of Ram Lalla idol at the grand temple in Ayodhya. Later that day, the managing committee of the Batadrava Than also asked the Congress leader to not visit before 3 pm, citing pre-planned programmes on the premises to mark the Ram Temple event.

Talking to reporters after denied entry on Monday morning, Gandhi said the temple committee had invited him on January 11, but declined the invitation at the last moment. “Obviously they were being pressurised and got orders from the top,” Gandhi alleged.

Gaurav Gogoi, the local Congress MP from Kaliabor, after visiting the Batadrava Than, said there was no crowd in and around the premises and “it was absolutely empty”.

“We offered prayers of peace and harmony on behalf of Rahulji and all the pujaris who were present in the premises extended their blessings to him,” Gogoi said. “Lies and rumors were spread that a law-and-order situation could have arisen if Gandhi had visited the place.”

Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said they were aware of the temple committee’s request to come after 3pm but it wasn’t possible because of the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra’s schedule. “At 3pm, we would be around 100 kilometres ahead, it wasn’t possible to return. We don’t understand why rules are different for us,” he added.

When reporters asked the Assam CM about his response to Rahul Gandhi’s remarks in Nagaon, the Assam CM, who attended an event in Guwahati where the Ram Temple event was streamed live, said, “Why are you talking about Ravan today? Talk about Ram at least today. We have the opportunity to talk about Ram after 500 years. We should only talk about him and not about Ravan.”

Meanwhile, after the yatra resumed around 2 pm, the Morigaon district administration in a letter to the district Congress organisers asked Gandhi to refrain from holding street corner meetings and a padayatra, as “miscreants may try to disrupt peace and tranquility in the district”.

Later in the day, the yatra entered Meghalaya, where Gandhi is likely to meet 3,000 students of University of Science & Technology on Tuesday morning. The yatra will then enter Guwahati, even as chief minister Sarma had asked the Congress to avoid bringing the yatra to the capital city. “If Congress party violates traffic laws, Assam police will register cases,” Sarma had said on January 18.

Gaurav Gogoi on Monday asked on what grounds the chief minister warned the Congress from entering Guwahati. “Only BJP leaders can take out rallies and conduct meetings in Guwahati? What rule allows this,” Gogoi told HT.