(Combining related stories)

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday said he had to cancel his walk for the day because police arrangements by the Jammu and Kashmir administration “unfortunately completely collapsed” whereas a senior J&K police official said that there was no security lapse stressing that the organisers had not informed the police about a large crowd joining the march from Banihal.

Gandhi, who began his yatra from Banihal in Jammu region, crossed the Jawahar tunnel into the Valley in Qazigund in a bulletproof vehicle but could walk for barely 500 metres after that. He was asked by his security team to stop given the absence of police personnel to manage the large crowd that had gathered to receive him.

“Police personnel who were supposed to manage the crowd were nowhere to be seen,” the former Congress president told reporters here in a brief statement.

He was supposed to walk 11 km to Vessu before halting for the night at the Khanabal dak bungalow in Anantnag district.

“It’s the Jammu and Kashmir administration’s responsibility to provide security… I hope security will now be ensured for remaining days of the yatra. I don’t know why it happened but tomorrow and day after tomorrow it should not happen,” Gandhi said in the unscheduled meeting with reporters.

However, he did not take any questions, saying that interaction would be reserved for Sunday.

“I had to call off my walk because I can’t go against my security people,” the Congress leader, who started his Bharat Jodo Yatra in Kanyakumari in September and ends it in Srinagar on January 30, said.

Additional Director General of Police Vijay Kumar, who is in charge of security in Kashmir Valley, said in a statement, “The Jammu and Kashmir police was not consulted before the Bharat Jodo Yatra was discontinued. We will provide foolproof security (to the yatra),”.

“Only authorised persons as identified by organisers and frisked crowd were allowed inside towards the route of the yatra. Organisers and managers of the BJY did not intimate about large gathering from Banihal joining the yatra,” Kumar said.

Crowds, he said, were thronging Qazigund.

“Full security arrangements were in place… JK Police was not consulted before taking any decision on discontinuation of the yatra,” he added.

“The rest of the yatra continued peacefully. There was no security lapse at all,” Kumar said in the statement.

Terming the incident a “big security lapse”, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said Gandhi’s security team is holding discussions with the Jammu and Kashmir administration to ensure that everything goes off smoothly for the next few days.

“Politics has its place but by playing with Rahul Gandhi’s security in Jammu and Kashmir, the government has stooped to its lowest level,” the Ramesh added in a tweet in Hindi.

India, he said, has already lost Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi and any government or administration should desist from playing politics on such issues.

National Conference leader Omar Abdullah Friday alleged that the outer ring of security cordon maintained by Jammu and Kashmir Police “simply vanished” as soon as the Rahul Gandhi-led Bharat Jodo Yatra entered the Kashmir Valley.

“I’m witness to this. The outer ring of the cordon which was maintained by the Jammu and Kashmir police simply vanished within minutes of Rahul Gandhi starting to walk,” Abdullah said in a tweet.

“We had just crossed into Kashmir from Jammu and were looking forward to the 11-km walk but unfortunately it had to be cancelled,” he said.

Several party leaders echoed their concerns, accusing the government of withdrawing security personnel around Gandhi and demanding action against those responsible for the alleged breach.

“Who ordered this?” asked AICC general secretary K C Venugopal.

“The authorities responsible must answer for this lapse and take appropriate steps to prevent such incidents in future,” he said on Twitter

Jammu and Kashmir’s AICC in-charge Rajni Patil said “the security lapses indicate unfair and unprepared attitude of the UT administration”.

“Due to security reasons, we had to stop the yatra temporarily as there was crowd mismanagement along the yatra route approved by the security apparatus,” a senior Congress leader said.

Gandhi’s security insisted that he stop the walk immediately and he drove instead to the guesthouse in Khanabal.

The morning started early with National Conference leader and former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah joining Gandhi for the walk. Both leaders were dressed in similar white T-shirts in the 7 degrees Celsius chill.

Gandhi’s white T-shirt look, even in north India’s severe winter days, has been the subject of much debate and discussion.

They had walked for about three kilometres in the morning and drove through the 2.85km Jawahar tunnel. After crossing the tunnel, party leaders accompanying Gandhi found there were no policeman to provide security at the scheduled halt.

Gandhi’s security team did not allow him to step out of the car.

The Congress leader will resume his journey on Saturday from Awantipora, 33km from Srinagar.