New Delhi: Congress president and Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge has written to Union Minister J.P. Nadda, seeking a First Information Report (FIR) against those involved in the ‘purification’ ceremony at Ramlila Maidan in Haldwani after his 8 August public meeting there.
In the 2 September letter, Kharge reminded Nadda of the assurance he gave in the Rajya Sabha on 13 August that the matter would be looked into and action taken against those responsible. Kharge has now questioned the delay in action, saying 24 days have passed since the incident.
“I am surprised that even after 24 days of this incident, an FIR has not been registered against the concerned organisations and individuals who carried out this reprehensible act in Haldwani,” he wrote.
Kharge said what happened at the rally venue could not be separated from the constitutional values of equality and dignity. “At the site of Ramlila Maidan where I addressed the rally, purification was carried out in a manner contrary to the spirit of the Constitution of India and human values,” he added.
He also invoked the experience of B.R. Ambedkar during the Mahad Satyagraha. Kharge said that after Ambedkar drank water from the Mahad tank, people opposed to him carried out a purification ritual using cow urine and dung, chanting mantras. “The casteist process of purification does not become sacred merely by chanting mantras or performing a havan,” Kharge wrote.
Kharge made it clear that he did not see the incident simply as an insult directed at him. “This issue is not limited to me personally or to the position of president of the Indian National Congress; it is broadly connected with the sentiments of crores of people who continue to encounter this cruel reality every day,” he said.
He said the matter was raised in Parliament because it reflected a mindset that continued to affect a section of society and required the government’s attention.
Kharge has asked Nadda to follow through on his assurance in Parliament and direct the Uttarakhand chief minister to ensure that an FIR is registered against the individuals and organisations involved in the ceremony.
The controversy began after Kharge addressed a Congress rally at Ramlila Maidan in Haldwani on 8 August. A purification ceremony was subsequently held at the venue. Later, Kharge raised the matter in the Rajya Sabha on 13 August.
Calling the episode “unfortunate”, Nadda had said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) did not support such activities, assuring Kharge that the matter would be examined and the guilty punished. Just days later, however, Uttarakhand BJP chief Mahendra Bhatt defended the ‘shuddhikaran (purification)’.
Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi also held a press conference and demanded action against those responsible for the ceremony, alleging that it reflected caste discrimination. An FIR was registered against the Congress leader over his remarks for allegedly hurting caste sentiments. The Congress then held country-wide protests against the FIR lodged against Rahul.
Sources told ThePrint that Kharge had also raised the matter at a Congress Working Committee (CWC) meet, expressing disappointment with his colleagues for not standing up for him.
