A day after a zero FIR was registered at Vidhana Soudha Police Station in Bengaluru in connection with an alleged "purification ritual" carried out at Ramlila Ground in Haldwani, the BJP mounted an attack on Congress, calling it a "party of leaders who lie." BJP leader Ram Kadam hit out at the Congress, and accused the Grand Old Party of of trying to mislead the public.
Lok Sabha LoP Rahul Gandhi during a press conference over Haldwani "purification" row | File Image
"The Congress party should be renamed the ‘Party of leaders who lie’… it would suit them perfectly on moral grounds. They are trying to spread confusion among the public regarding a lie, an incident that never actually occurred and which no one supported. And since they are in power in Karnataka, they want the police to file a case so that the matter grabs headlines again… but the public cannot be fooled repeatedly by such fabrications. The Congress party and its leaders need to understand this…" he said.
Telangana BJP President Ramchander Rao said, "The Congress party appears to be having no issue. So, they are now trying to rake up the old issue, that is, the Haldwani issue, and trying to mislead the people of this country about the so-called purification ritual. The Karnataka police appears to have registered a zero FIR against Uttarakhand BJP leaders… this is divisive politics by the Congress Party."
“There is no such purification issue, which has been clarified by many BJP leaders, but still the Congress party is making it an issue, a non-issue being blown out of proportion," he added.
The alleged "ritual" was conducted days after Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge addressed a rally at the same venue. Speaking on the issue earlier today, Congress General Secretary (Organisation) KC Venugopal said, "Isn’t this one of the biggest problems facing the country today? Conducting a 'purification' ritual at a place where a leader like Mallikarjun Kharge had delivered a speech is deeply disturbing... They are adopting an approach that amounts to practising untouchability even against the Congress president and the LoP in the Rajya Sabha, and then they are trying to justify it. When Rahul Gandhi questioned this, an FIR was registered against him. The politics of bigotry being pursued by the BJP and the Sangh Parivar is one of the biggest problems facing this country..."
The case was registered in Bengaluru following a complaint filed by TR Ramappa, former vice-chairman of the ST Department (Adivasi Congress) of the Indian National Congress, who alleged that the ritual was carried out to send a casteist message suggesting that Kharge's presence had "polluted" the venue. The FIR also names Uttarakhand BJP president Mahendra Bhatt, with the complainant alleging that he publicly defended and justified the ritual after it drew criticism from Congress leaders.
The case has been registered under provisions of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, the Protection of Civil Rights Act, 1995, and various sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
According to the FIR, the complainant stated that on August 8, the Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha and National President of the Indian National Congress, Mallikarjun Kharge, attended and addressed a large public rally at Ramlila Ground in Haldwani, Uttarakhand. The said rally was a peaceful and democratic public assembly, duly conducted in accordance with the law and without any unlawful incident, it said.
The FIR stated that subsequent to the public rally, certain members and functionaries of the Bharatiya Janata Party allegedly orchestrated and conducted a so-called "purification ritual" on August 10 (Shuddhikaran) at the very venue where the said rally was held.
"The said ritual was purportedly intended to convey the deeply offensive, derogatory and casteist notion that the presence of Sri. Mallikarjun Kharge, a member of a Scheduled Caste community, had rendered the said place "impure" and that the venue consequently required ritualistic cleansing," the complainant alleged.
Such conduct, if established, the complainant alleged, is not merely "objectionable" but constitutes a "deliberate" and "deeply insulting" act directed against the dignity and social status of Kharge and is liable to attract the consequences prescribed under the applicable provisions of law.
(With inputs from PTI)
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