Mallikarjun Kharge to Nadda: No FIR over ‘purification’ row despite your assurance

Mallikarjun Kharge, Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha, wrote to Leader of the House J P Nadda Thursday, pointing out that no FIR had been registered in connection with the “purification” ritual in Uttarakhand’s Haldwani, even 24 days after the incident and despite Nadda’s assurance.

The Congress president recalled that on August 13, he raised in Rajya Sabha the issue of the alleged “purification” carried out in Haldwani following his public meeting there on August 8 “with great sadness and pain”.

Kharge mentioned that Nadda had then said that it was “indeed a very sad matter”. “This is not just sad for the Congress party, but it is sad for all of us … Whatever has happened will certainly have to be investigated.

I would like to say that the Bharatiya Janata Party never supports such activity. I condemn it and the national president will also look into it seriously. Whatever sentiments of yours have been hurt, that is a matter of concern for all of us,” Kharge wrote, quoting the Union minister.

“You had also said that strict action would be taken against anyone found guilty after an investigation. The Hon’ble Chairman of the Rajya Sabha had also expressed his deep anguish over the incident,” Kharge wrote.

“But I am surprised that even after 24 days have passed since the incident, no FIR has yet been registered against the organisations and individuals involved in carrying out the alleged purification ceremony in Haldwani,” he added.

Kharge said the issue was not a “personal matter” concerning him or his position as Congress president. “It is broadly connected with the sentiments of crores of people who experience this cruel reality every day.

Such wrongdoers must be taught a lesson. Therefore, this is not a grievance of mine, but an issue concerning the expression of crores of people and a mindset that directly affects a section of society.

It is for this reason that I raised this issue in the House to draw the government’s attention to it,” he wrote. Kharge said “the most objectionable aspect of this case was that at the very site in Ramlila Maidan where I had addressed the rally, a purification ceremony was carried out in a manner contrary to the spirit of the Constitution of India and human values”.

“Generally, everyone understands that such purification rituals are directly linked to untouchability. There are many such examples,” he wrote. “Baba Saheb Dr. B.R. Ambedkar had faced such an incident during the Mahad Satyagraha, when, despite having drawn water from the tank, some people, driven by caste hatred, carried out a purification ritual by pouring 108 pots of cow urine and cow dung and chanting mantras.

Merely chanting mantras or performing rituals does not make a casteist practice sacred,” Kharge added. Kharge asked Nadda to direct Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami to ensure that an FIR is registered against the individuals and organisations involved in the “purification” ceremony.

The Congress earlier protested against an FIR registered in Uttarakhand against its leader Rahul Gandhi after he urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to order an FIR over a “purification” ritual.

Calling the act a “crime”, Gandhi said at a press conference in New Delhi that it illustrated the “untouchability” Dalits face across India and exposed the “BJP-RSS mindset”.