Rahul Gandhi had criticised the incident at a press conference in New Delhi on 29 August and demanded that a case be registered under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act against those responsible.
The FIR followed a complaint by a member of the Valmiki community in Haldwani, who alleged that Rahul Gandhi had given a casteist interpretation to a religious ritual during his remarks.
Congress has described the case against Rahul Gandhi as an attempt to divert attention from the alleged purification and has demanded action against those who carried it out. Congress workers have held protests in several parts of Uttarakhand and submitted complaints seeking cases under the SC/ST Act.
The BJP, meanwhile, has accused Congress of politicising the issue ahead of the Uttarakhand Assembly elections and has criticised Gandhi over his remarks.
The BJP has also rejected the Congress’ allegations and accused Rahul Gandhi of being “anti-Dalit”.
In his letter, Kharge invoked B.R. Ambedkar’s Mahad Satyagraha, recalling that caste-based opposition accompanied the Dalit leader’s assertion of the right to access public water.
Kharge argued that rituals such as chanting mantras or conducting a havan could not legitimise what he described as a caste-based act of “purification”.
He urged Nadda to act on his assurance in Parliament and ensure that an FIR is registered against those allegedly involved in the Haldwani incident.
The dispute has now widened into a political confrontation between the Congress and BJP, with both sides accusing the other of exploiting the controversy for political purposes.
With PTI inputs
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