Rahul visits riot-hit areas, says hate won't benefit 'Bharat Mata'

Congress leaders, led by former party chief Rahul Gandhi, visited riot-affected areas in Delhi on Wednesday to assess the situation on the ground.

Two separate party delegations visited different areas in northeast Delhi.

The first delegation, comprising mostly MPs, left in a bus from the Kerala House in New Delhi and included Hibi Eden, Gurjeet Singh Aujla and Abdul Khaleque.

Their first stop was Chand Bagh where they met shopkeepers and asked them about the losses they suffered.

The second delegation included Gandhi, K C Venugopal, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, K Suresh, Mukul Wasnik, Kumari Selja, Gaurav Gogoi and Randeep Surjewala.

This delegation visited a private school in the Brijpuri area of northeast Delhi that was vandalised and burnt during the riots.

Arun Modern Public Senior Secondary School, which is over 32 years old, suffered massive damage and the Congress delegation went around the gutted classrooms and surveyed the burnt busses.

Speaking with reporters, Gandhi said, "This (school) is India's future. Hate and violence has destroyed it. Nobody has benefited from this. Violence and hate are enemies of development."

"India is being divided, burnt. This will not benefit Bharat Mata," he said.

Gandhi along with other leaders also visited a mosque near the school that was affected in the violence.

Sources said the Delhi Police advised Gandhi not to go beyond the Brijpuri Nullah.

The Congress has demanded that the issue of communal riots in Delhi be debated in Parliament and proceedings of both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha have been disrupted over the issue.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi last week had deputed a five-member team to visit the riot-affected areas of Delhi and submit a report to her after assessing the situation there.

The communal violence in northeast Delhi, which was sparked by protests over the amended Citizenship Act, and has left 42 dead and over 200 injured.

• Delhi Riots