The Congress has also stepped up its attack on the BJP government in Uttarakhand, demanding action against those involved in the purification ritual at the Haldwani venue.
Kharge, who belongs to the Dalit community, addressed a Congress rally at Haldwani’s Ramlila Maidan on 8 August. The Congress has alleged that BJP activists subsequently performed a purification ritual at the stage where Kharge had spoken, triggering a political row over caste discrimination.
Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi has also addressed a special conference on the issue, demanding justice for Kharge. Kharge subsequently raised the matter in Parliament and wrote to BJP president J.P. Nadda, seeking action against those responsible.
‘This issue goes beyond me personally or my position as the President of the Indian National Congress; it is connected on a broader level to the sentiments of crores of people who continue to face this cruel reality every day. It is necessary to teach a lesson to such wrongdoers,’ Kharge said in the letter.
As part of the strategy, the Congress has now taken the campaign to Punjab, where Punjab Congress campaign committee chairperson and former chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi led a protest in Jalandhar against what he described as the “Manuvadi mindset” of the RSS and BJP.
Channi, who is a Dalit leader, alleged that the incident reflected caste-based discrimination, claiming that the stage was treated as “contaminated” because Kharge had stood on it.
“We have staged a protest against the mindset of the RSS and the BJP, specifically regarding the incident where the stage was ‘purified’ after Mallikarjun Kharge had stepped onto it,” Channi said, demanding registration of an FIR against those responsible.
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