LOWPROFILE VISIT
Congress vicepresident Rahul Gandhi took everybody by surprise as he reached Amritsar and paid obeisance at the Golden Temple on Saturday.
Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi took everybody by surprise as he reached Amritsar on Saturday afternoon and paid obeisance at the Golden Temple and Akal Takht as a “common devotee”.
It was just an hour-long visit after which he left for the airport. He did not indulge in any political activity nor did he interact with the media.
Coming just four days after the 33rd anniversary of Operation Bluestar, the visit sparked speculations on his motive.
However, Amritsar MP Gurjit Singh Aujla clarified the visit coincided with the Parkash Parv of Guru Hargobind.
As per party sources, Rahul planned the trip suddenly at 12.30 pm, after which local party leaders were informed. He landed at Sri Guru Ram Das Jee International Airport at 4pm, from where he directly reached the Sikh shrine.
Except Aujla and MLA Sunil Dutti, no other prominent party leader accompanied Rahul. Even Punjab cabinet minister Navjot Singh Sidhu, who inaugurated a ‘sanjhi rasoi’ at the local Guru Nanak Hospital a few hours before Rahul’s arrival, did not accompany him.
STANDS IN QUEUE
Forgoing VIP entry to the sanctum sanctorum offered by the SGPC employees, Rahul opted to stand in the queue waiting for his turn for 25 minutes.
After kneeling before Guru Granth Sahib inside the shrine, he sat along with the ‘sangat’ to listen to the gurbani. He also interacted with other devotees, who took the opportunity to take selfies with him. Rahul stayed there for around 15 minutes and also offered ‘parsad’.
After coming out of the shrine, the Congress vice-president paid
obeisance at the Akal Takht, the highest temporal seat of Sikhs.
Prior to this, he took water from the sarovar (holy tank) and sprinkled it on his face.
Some mediapersons had a scuffle with security personnel as they made an effort to interview Rahul.
RETURN DELAYED
After visiting the Golden Temple, Rahul left for the Amritsar airport, from he took a flight to New Delhi around 6.30pm.
However, due to duststorm, the plane was forced to land back after a few minutes. It finally left the city at 8.45pm.
COMING 4 DAYS AFTER 33RD ANNIVERSARY OF OPERATION BLUESTAR, THE VISIT SPARKED SPECULATIONS