The Congress on Wednesday alleged that a delegation of its leaders was not allowed to visit Nagaland's Mon district where 14 civilians were killed by the Army.
The delegation comprising Congress general secretary Jitendra Singh, the party's Nagaland in-charge Ajoy Kumar and MP Gaurav Gogoi protested at Jorhat in Assam claiming that they were not being allowed to visit Mon district and meet the families of the victims.
According to the party, the delegation was supposed to meet the victims' families and submit a report on the incident that occurred earlier this week.
"Congress delegation is not allowed to meet the bereaved families in Nagaland. The Government of India is scared of us sharing people's grief. But nothing will stop us," Rahul Gandhi said in a Facebook post using the hashtag 'No Fear'.
Congress' chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said, "The illegal detention of Congress delegation comprising Jitendra Singh, Gaurav Gogoi and Ajoy Kumar from visiting Nagaland reflects the fascist mindset of the (Narendra) Modi government.""Civil liberties and life of the people of Northeast is imperilled and we are being prevented from exposing them," he said.Congress President Sonia Gandhi had constituted a committee to visit families of the victims of violence in the Mon district of Nagaland and submit a report within a week.
Security forces opened fire on civilians killing 14 and injuring 11 more in Nagaland's Mon district in three consecutive episodes, the first of which was a case of mistaken identity, police said on Sunday. One soldier also died in rioting which followed. In his statement in Parliament on Monday, Shah expressed regret over the Nagaland firing incident and said a probe by a Special Investigation Team will be completed within a month.