"Is It Not India?" Rahul Gandhi To Cop When Stopped From Visiting Punjab Village

The Congress on Monday accused the Punjab Police of not allowing party leader Rahul Gandhi to meet flood-affected villagers across the Ravi river in Gurdaspur district.

Mr Gandhi was on a visit to Punjab to interact with flood-hit people in Amritsar and Gurdaspur districts. He visited Ghonewal village in Amritsar and Gurchak village in Gurdaspur.

However, party leaders alleged that Mr Gandhi was stopped by the local police from visiting Toor, a border village across the Ravi river in Gurdaspur. Punjab Congress chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring claimed the police cited security reasons.

A video also emerged in which Mr Gandhi was posing questions to senior police officials on why he was not being allowed to go across the Ravi river.

"You are telling me that you cannot keep me safe on Indian territory. That is what you are saying," Mr Gandhi asked a Punjab Police officer.

To which, the officer replied, "We are always ready to protect you".

Then Mr Gandhi countered, "But you are saying that is India (while pointing towards the village across Ravi river) and you cannot protect me in India." "Is it not India," asked Mr Gandhi, who was accompanied by state unit chief Warring and MP Sukhjinder Randhawa.

Sad and unfortunate that @HMOIndia in collusion with @AAPPunjab government in Punjab scuttled @RahulGandhi Ji's visit to the isolated villages like ‘Toor', which are still cut off from the mainland and can be reached out only through boats.

These villages remain cut off even… https://t.co/tZWrccqX4U

— Amarinder Singh Raja Warring (@RajaBrar_INC) September 15, 2025

"You want to say that the LoP (Leader of Opposition) cannot go because Punjab Police is unable to protect," said Mr Gandhi.

Later, Congress leader and former Punjab chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi also accused the Punjab government of not allowing Gandhi to visit a village across the Ravi river to meet affected families.

"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. It is unfortunate that he was not being allowed to meet people," said Mr Channi while speaking to reporters.

Punjab Congress chief Warring said Mr 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.

Senior Congress leader Partap Singh Bajwa lashed out at the AAP government for not allowing Mr Gandhi to go across the Ravi river.

Terming it as "shameful and insensitive", Mr Bajwa said the government was using "flimsy security pretexts" to stop Mr Gandhi from reaching the worst-hit areas.

"This was not a security issue, it was a political decision to avoid accountability," Mr Bajwa alleged.

He also alleged that both AAP and BJP leaders failed to even set foot in the border villages that have been badly affected 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 Mr Bajwa. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)