A Congress delegation led by former party president Rahul Gandhi visited the riot-affected areas in Northeast Delhi on Wednesday to assess the situation on the ground.

Two separate party delegations left for different areas in northeast Delhi.

The first delegation, comprising mostly MPs, left in a bus from the Kerala House and included Hibi Eden, Gurjeet Singh Aujla and Abdul Khaleque.

Their first stop was Chand Bagh where they met shopkeepers and asked them about the losses they suffered.

The second delegation included Rahul Gandhi, KC Venugopal, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, K Suresh, Mukul Wasnik, Kumari Selja, Gaurav Gogoi and Randeep Surjewala.

This delegation visited a private school in the Brijpuri area which was vandalised and burnt down by rioters during the violence that continued in the northeast district for over three days.

Speaking to reporters after visiting the school, Rahul Gandhi said the institution is India’s future and added that violence and hatred benefit no one but only divide India.

“This school is the future of India. Hatred and violence have destroyed it. This violence is of no benefit to Bharat Mata. Everybody has to work in together and take India forward at this time,” he said.

While stating that the unprecedented riots have hit India’s reputation hardly, he asserted that violence and hatred are inimical to progress.

Meanwhile, Congress leader K Suresh said the party has been under “tremendous pressure” to visit the riot-affected areas.

“Congress MPs had so far not visited the riot-affected areas but IUML and CPI-Left MPs had visited, so we were under tremendous pressure from our constituencies,” Suresh told news agency ANI.

The communal violence in northeast Delhi, which was sparked by protests over the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) has left at least 48 people dead and over 200 injured.

On the violence, Gandhi had earlier tweeted, “The violence today in Delhi is disturbing and must be unequivocally condemned. Peaceful protests are a sign of a healthy democracy, but violence can never be justified. I urge the citizens of Delhi to show restraint, compassion & understanding no matter what the provocation.”

Congress chief Sonia Gandhi had last week deputed a five-member delegation to visit the areas and give her a detailed report on the ground situation.

The Congress has been demanding that the issue of communal riots in Delhi be debated in Parliament and proceedings of both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha have been disrupted over the issue.

The Lok Sabha witnessed shoving, blocking ways and shouting at each other to the degree that Speaker Om Birla had to adjourn the House multiple times.

The Congress has also demanded the resignation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah over the riots.