At around 10 am, Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi, Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi, and a convoy of Congress leaders stood on one side of the barricaded Delhi-Uttar Pradesh Ghazipur border. Hundreds of police personnel stood on the other side of the barricade.  

The tussle went on for three hours, with Rahul standing on the border with the constitution in his hand. The Congress leaders were headed to meet the families of five killed in the violence that erupted amid protests against the archaeological survey of Mughal-era Shahi Jama Masjid in Sambhal. The survey was being conducted after a local court’s order in a petition claiming that it was built on a temple site.

The convoy was forced to turn back. Earlier, Samajwadi Party leaders were also turned away by the local administration. But why? And what happened with the Gandhis? Why did the Sambhal district magistrate write to UP officials to block their convoy?  

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