Jammu, 22 July (H.S.): Despite heavy rain, BJP and Congress workers came face-to-face at Shaheedi Chowk near the Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee (JKPCC) headquarters on Wednesday, prompting massive police deployment and the erection of barricades to prevent any confrontation.

Police formed a security cordon and kept the rival groups apart with barbed wire as both parties raised slogans within proximity to each other.

The BJP protest was led by the Leader of Opposition in the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly, Sunil Sharma, who, along with senior party leaders and workers, marched towards the JKPCC headquarters despite heavy downpour, raising slogans against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.

The Congress workers led by JKPCC president Tariq Hameed Karra and working president Raman Bhalla came out of the party headquarters and staged a counter-protest, chanting slogans demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and against alleged hooliganism of the BJP.

Sharma accused Gandhi of abandoning parliamentary debate and attempting to incite unrest among the youth.

We are marching to the JKPCC office to convey one clear message that India believes in democracy, not in political theatrics, the BJP leader said.

He claimed that Gandhi walked away from debate and left Parliament – the country's highest democratic institution and the foremost forum where national policies are debated.

By doing so, he committed an act that appears to be part of a larger conspiracy. He (Gandhi) is attempting to instigate the youth, who are the foundations of the vision of a developed India by 2047, trying to create an atmosphere of anarchy.

The Congress seems to believe that, just as movements were launched in countries like Bangladesh and Nepal in the name of so-called public uprisings to capture power, a similar strategy can succeed here. That is their misconception, Sharma said.

Stating that the people of India, especially the youth, have faith in democracy, he said. If Gandhi wants to come to power, there is a democratic process for that – he should seek people's mandate through elections.

After suffering electoral defeats in Bihar, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Assam and several other places, it appears they believe they can create unrest and build a political atmosphere through disorder.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Krishan Kumar