Rahul Gandhi was stopped by Punjab Police from visiting flood-affected villagers across the Ravi River in Gurdaspur, prompting security-related disputes.
Gandhi questioned police officers, asking why he couldn’t be protected in Indian territory.
Congress leaders accused the state government of insensitivity and politicizing disaster relief efforts.
Rahul Gandhi, the head of the Congress, was accused by the Punjab Police on Monday of preventing him from meeting with flood-affected villagers in the Gurdaspur area across the Ravi River.
Gandhi travelled to Punjab to meet with residents of the districts of Amritsar and Gurdaspur who had been affected by flooding. He travelled to Gurchak village in Gurdaspur and Ghonewal village in Amritsar.
According to PTI, but according to party leaders, Gandhi was prevented from travelling to Toor, a border village in Gurdaspur on the other side of the Ravi River, by the local police. Amrinder Singh Raja Warring, the head of the Punjab Congress, said the police gave security justifications.
Additionally, a video surfaced showing Gandhi questioning high-ranking police officers about why he was denied permission to cross the Ravi River.
"You are telling me that you cannot keep me safe on Indian territory. That is what you are saying," Gandhi asked a Punjab Police officer.
To which the officer replied, "We are always ready to protect you".
Then Gandhi countered, "But you are saying that is India (while pointing towards the village across the Ravi river) and you cannot protect me in India." "Is it not India?" asked Gandhi, who was accompanied by state unit chief Warring and MP Sukhjinder Randhawa.
"You want to say that the LoP (Leader of Opposition) cannot go because the Punjab Police is unable to protect," said Gandhi.
Charanjit Singh Channi, a former Punjab chief minister and Congress leader, later charged that Gandhi was denied permission by the Punjab government to meet with impacted people at a village across the Ravi River.
"Our own people stay there. He (Gandhi) wanted to enquire about their well-being. We have been holding a medical camp there for the past three days. Unfortunately, he was not being allowed to meet people," said Channi while speaking to reporters.
Punjab Congress chief Warring said Gandhi wanted to meet people and know their problems living across the Ravi river.
"Security (people) is saying that you cannot go. There is a threat. If Rahul Gandhi has a threat from Pakistan in India and if we are not safe in India, then where are we safe?" he asked.
According to PTI, Partap Singh Bajwa, a senior Congress leader, blasted the AAP government for preventing Gandhi from crossing the Ravi River.
Bajwa called the government's use of "flimsy security pretexts" to prevent Gandhi from reaching the most affected districts "shameful and insensitive."
"This was not a security issue? It was a political decision to avoid accountability," Bajwa claimed.
Additionally, he claimed that neither AAP nor BJP representatives ventured into the border villages that have been severely impacted by the floods.
"These are our people? Our fellow Indians. Just because they live near the border does not make them less deserving of help," said Bajwa.
