'Need freedom to travel and meet locals, not an aircraft'; Rahul Gandhi 'takes up' Governor Satya Pal Malik's offer to facilitate Kashmir visit

New Delhi: We need the freedom to travel and meet people, not an aircraft, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said on Tuesday.

The Gandhi scion’s remark came in response to Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik, who had earlier offered a plane to Gandhi to visit the Valley and observe the situation.

Quoting media reports citing Malik offering a plane to Gandhi for travelling to Jammu and Kashmir, the former Congress chief tweeted, “Dear Governor Malik, a delegation of opposition leaders and I will take you up on your gracious invitation to visit Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. We won’t need an aircraft but please ensure us the freedom to travel and meet the people, mainstream leaders, and our soldiers stationed over there.”

Last week, Gandhi had said reports surfaced of violence and people being killed in Jammu and Kashmir and called upon Prime Minister Narendra Modi to transparently tell the country about the situation and assuage people.

Gandhi, who had resigned after the party’s drubbing in the Lok Sabha elections, made the remarks after the Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting on Saturday (August 10).

After seeing a presentation on “what was going on in Jammu and Kashmir”, Gandhi said, “I was called just now by the working committee because between the work they were doing to choose the next Congress President some reports have come that things in Jammu and Kashmir are going very wrong. There are reports of violence, there are reports of people dying in Jammu and Kashmir. So we stopped our deliberation on Congress President issue and we had a presentation on what was going on in Jammu and Kashmir”.

He also said the Congress was concerned about the reports and it is very important that the Central Government speaks up on the situation in the state.

Security was beefed up as the Centre withdrew special status to Jammu and Kashmir and passed the Jammu and Kashmir (Reorganization) Act 2019, reorganizing it into two Union Territories — Jammu and Kashmir with legislature and Ladakh without it.