Rahul Gandhi demands FIR over Kharge rally purification ritual

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi demanded on August 29 that Prime Minister Narendra Modi order the registration of a criminal case against those responsible for a purification ritual performed after a rally by party president Mallikarjun Kharge in Uttarakhand, calling the act a violation of laws against untouchability. Speaking at a press conference in Delhi, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha stated that the ritual, conducted at the venue in Haldwani following Kharge's August 8 address, was a crime under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

Gandhi asserted that the incident, which occurred at the Ramlila Maidan, was not an isolated event but reflected a broader pattern of discrimination. "Purification is actually just another name for untouchability. Untouchability was outlawed, yet BJP members practice it openly," he said. He framed the controversy as part of a larger ideological struggle between the Constitution of India and the ideology of the BJP and RSS. "A fight is underway in the country between two ideologies. On one side is the Constitution of India... On the other is the ideology of the BJP and RSS," Gandhi stated.