Row in Rajya Sabha over 'purification' ceremony after Kharge’s Uttarakhand rally
A row erupted in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday after the Leader of Opposition (LoP)and Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge alleged a ‘shuddhikaran’ (purification)ceremony was held at the venue where he addressed a rally in Uttarakhand. Terming the incident “unfortunate,” Union Minister JP Nadda asserted that the BJP does not subscribe to such activities.
The issue has already created a political stir in Uttarakhand, where the Congress and the BJP have been trading charges over the ritual at Haldwani’s Ram Lila Ground. It was held by a right-wing outfit two days after Kharge, a Dalit, addressed a public rally at the venue.
Raising the matter in the Upper House, Kharge claimed that BJP workers performed a “havan” and carried out a “purification” of the stage from which he addressed a rally on August 8. “There were lakhs of people present at the time. I did not name any community or religion. I only spoke about the problems faced by the people there. But after my speech, BJP workers performed a havan,” he said.
“Is this the way in a democracy? How are you protecting the Constitution? I am the LoP... I never wanted to politicise these issues,” Kharge, only the second Dalit leader to head the Congress, said.
Amid sloganeering by Congress MPs, Rajya Sabha Chairman C P Radhakrishnan sought to pacify Kharge, emphasising that there was no bigger sin in the world than “untouchability”. “It should be condemned... Those who have done it should be caught. There is no two opinions on this,” he said.
Nadda sought to distance the BJP from the incident. He assured Kharge that the matter would be investigated. “Please don’t say repeatedly that we (BJP) did. The BJP does not subscribe to such activities,” Nadda said.
“I assure you that whatever happened there will certainly be investigated. The (BJP) national president will look into this. It is a matter of great regret for all of us that your sentiments were hurt,” he further said.
To this, Kharge stressed that he was not blaming anyone for the incident. “I am saying register a case, arrest them...This is what we demand,” he said.
The issue, however, has turned into a major political controversy in Uttarakhand. A video of the ‘purification’ ceremony has also gone viral on social media. It shows a priest conducting a ‘havan’ amid chanting of Vedic mantras.
In another video, one of the organisers says that the venue holds religious significance and should be reserved strictly for cultural, not political, events.
Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi demanded an apology from Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “This mindset clearly demonstrates the ideologies of the BJP and the RSS. This must be repudiated,” she said. The incident also received flak from the RJD, which blamed the BJP for nurturing such “casteist bigots”.
The BJP, however, denied any connection to the organisers of the ceremony. However, Uttarakhand minister and BJP spokesperson Khajan Das alleged that certain slogans raised during Kharge’s rally might have “hurt the sentiments” of the Sanatan community.
He stressed that the Ramlila Ground was a place of religious significance, and people might have been angered by the chanting of slogans related to another religion there.
