Congress, BJP Clash Over Haldwani Purification Ceremony After Kharge Visit

A shuddhikaran (purification) ceremony performed by the Shri Ram Sena at Haldwani’s Ramlila Ground following a rally by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on 8 August has ignited a political clash.

Uttarakhand Congress chief Ganesh Godiyal told The Print that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) maintained ties with the Shri Ram Sena, a charge the ruling party denied.

In a post on X, Godiyal urged the Nainital Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) to investigate the incident. He called the ritual deeply distressing and condemnable.

"This incident reflects caste-based discrimination and a narrow mindset. The Congress believes in humanity, equality and brotherhood, whereas such incidents foster animosity and division in society," Godiyal said on X.

He also said there is no place for discrimination and untouchability in modern democratic India adding that the Congress vehemently opposes such a mindset through democratic and constitutional means.

Outrage Over Casteist Undertones

Opposition leaders condemned the incident, highlighting elements of caste discrimination against Kharge.

"This is outrageous and I am so angry! These people are an affront to our society, to our country. They have not only committed a hate crime against my party’s leader and the Leader of the Opposition but against a respected senior member of the Dalit community. We have normalized such hate crimes. It is time to put an end to this nonsense," Congress leader Salman Soz said on X.

Soz urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to condemn the incident calling on the PM to direct the Home Minister, the Chief Minister of Uttarakhand and the state police to arrest the perpetrators under applicable hate crime laws.

Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) spokesperson Priyanka Bharti also criticised the act.

"The barbaric progeny of Manu simply cannot stomach the fact that a Dalit is one of the country’s foremost leaders. Does the BJP nurture such casteist bigots? They ought to be banished from the country!" Bharti said.

Meanwhile, a viral video showed a ceremony organiser defending the purification drive. The organiser said the platform was meant for Hindu programmes and functions. He claimed that using it for a political programme where slogans were raised hurt the sentiments of the Hindu community.

The organiser also objected to giving a platform to Kharge claiming Kharge previously compared Hinduvadi organisations to snakes and appealed to Muslims to kill them.

BJP Fires Back

Uttarakhand BJP Cabinet minister and spokesperson Khajan Das rejected the allegations, denying any connection between the ruling party and the Shri Ram Sena.

"BJP has no connection with the organisation that conducted the rituals; Congress’s allegations are a diversionary tactic," Das said.

Das also stated that the people of Devbhoomi are furious over objectionable slogans raised by a specific religious group at the sacred Ramlila Ground during the Haldwani rally on 11 August. He accused the Congress of resorting to caste-based politics to divide the Sanatan community and divert attention.

"The site where this incident occurred is the sacred Ramlila Ground, which holds immense religious significance in Sanatan Dharma. Raising slogans associated with other religions at such a holy site cannot be accepted or justified under any circumstances," he said.

The minister said insulting Dalits has always been the Congress's nature.

"It is not Mallikarjun Kharge who needs purification, but the Congress party’s own tainted mindset," Das said.

He added that the Congress historically humiliated Dalit leaders, including B.R. Ambedkar and Babu Jagjivan Ram. He also cited the treatment of former Congress national president Sitaram Kesri, whom party workers allegedly assaulted, stripped of his clothes and drove out of the party office.