‘Abhorrently casteist’: Congress to protest FIR against Rahul over Haldwani remarks

A day after Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi was booked for allegedly giving a casteist spin to a “purification” ritual held after Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge’s rally in Uttarakhand’s Haldwani, the party said its workers would protest across the country on Monday evening “against the BJP’s assault” on the constitutional values of social justice.

The Uttarakhand Police filed the FIR against Gandhi a day after he demanded that BJP workers be prosecuted for the “purification” carried out at the venue of Kharge’s rally. “This is nothing but the pot calling the kettle black!

What is worse, the BJP has actually jumped in to defend this abhorrently casteist behaviour, showing to the entire world that they are the biggest perpetrators of social injustice today,” Congress general secretary (organisation) K C Venugopal wrote on X.

Venugopal alleged that the BJP was willing to put the entire might of the state to attack those who speak against Dalit atrocities. “What the BJP has done is to attack the values of social justice enshrined in the Constitution, and the Congress will fight against this attack tooth and nail.

We will not rest until the true culprits of the insult to Kharge ji are punished, and this frivolous FIR against Rahul ji is thrown in the dustbin,” he added. Venugopal further wrote: “This evening, Congress workers across the country will be on the streets demanding prosecution of the BJP leaders who insulted Kharge ji and to defend our Constitution against the BJP's assault on its values of social justice.” The FIR was registered on Sunday, a day after Gandhi urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a press conference in New Delhi to order an FIR over a “shuddhikaran havan” held at Ramlila Maidan in Haldwani days after Congress president and Dalit leader Mallikarjun Kharge addressed a rally there.

Calling the act a “crime”, Gandhi said that it illustrated the “untouchability” Dalits face across India and exposed the “BJP-RSS mindset”. He reiterated that the Congress wants an FIR registered under the Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes (Atrocities) Act against those responsible for the Haldwani ceremony.

The complainant in the FIR against Gandhi said he is a member of the Valmiki community and that he, along with other members of the Scheduled Caste community, participated in a “cleanliness drive and religious ritual” held at Ramlila Maidan in Haldwani on August 11.

He claimed the act had no connection with any individual or caste. On the basis of the complaint, the police booked Gandhi on charges of promotion of enmity between groups and deliberate acts intended to outrage religious feelings, as well as under the SC/ST Act charge of giving false or frivolous information to a public servant, causing that public servant to use their power to harm or annoy a member of a Scheduled Caste or a Scheduled Tribe.

Asad Rehman is with the national bureau of The Indian Express and covers politics and policy focusing on religious minorities in India. A journalist for over eight years, Rehman moved to this role after covering Uttar Pradesh for five years for The Indian Express.

During his time in Uttar Pradesh, he covered politics, crime, health, and human rights among other issues. He did extensive ground reports and covered the protests against the new citizenship law during which many were killed in the state.

During the Covid pandemic, he did extensive ground reporting on the migration of workers from the metropolitan cities to villages in Uttar Pradesh. He has also covered some landmark litigations, including the Babri Masjid-Ram temple case and the ongoing Gyanvapi-Kashi Vishwanath temple dispute.

Prior to that, he worked on The Indian Express national desk for three years where he was a copy editor. Rehman studied at La Martiniere, Lucknow and then went on to do a bachelor's degree in History from Ramjas College, Delhi University.

He also has a Masters degree from the AJK Mass Communication Research Centre, Jamia Millia Islamia. ... Read More