Congress units across several states held demonstrations on Monday over the Uttarakhand Police’s first information report (FIR) against Leader of the Opposition and senior party leader Rahul Gandhi, escalating teh political battle over a controversial purification ceremony held in Haldwani after a public rally addressed by party president Mallikarjun Kharge, who comes from the Dalit community.
Amit Kumar, a member of the Shree Ram Sena Dharmarth Seva Samiti, subsequently filed an FIR in Haldwani accusing Gandhi of promoting enmity and ill-will on the basis of religion and caste.
At a press conference on Saturday, Gandhi had demanded that Prime Minister Narendra Modi order an FIR against those involved in the “shuddikaran” (purification) of the Ramlila ground in Haldwani.
He urged participation by PCC and DCC office-bearers, CLP leaders, MLAs, MLCs, MPs, senior leaders, frontal organisations, departments, cells and grassroots workers. Congress leaders Randeep Surjewala and Jairam Ramesh also attacked the BJP over the FIR. He also criticised Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami and BJP leaders for defending the ceremony.
Calling the FIR a “shameless weaponisation of the state machinery to target the Leader of the Opposition”, Congress general secretary KC Venugopal directed the party’s state and district units to hold massive protest marches on Monday evening to condemn what he described as “vendetta politics” and demand immediate legal action against the BJP workers allegedly involved in the incident. “Our fight should continue against the ones who attack the values of social justice enshrined in the Constitution,” Venugopal said in his letter to state units, calling for maximum mobilisation and media outreach. “By registering an FIR against Shri Rahul Gandhi, the cowardly BJP government has revealed its true face,” Surjewala said in a post on X, referring to Kharge’s remarks that the purification of the stage after his speech had hurt his sentiments. Ramesh said Gandhi had raised the issue of “injustice, humiliation, and discrimination” faced by Dalits and alleged that the BJP-RSS had “taken less than 24 hours to prove him right”. He said that while no action had been taken against those allegedly involved in the purification ceremony, an FIR had been filed against Gandhi for demanding action.
