Uttarakhand BJP chief defends ‘shuddhikaran’, Congress hits back

New Delhi: Despite Union Minister JP Nadda calling the ‘shuddhikaran’ ceremony at the Haldwani rally venue “unfortunate”, Uttarakhand Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Mahendra Bhatt has defended the ritual, prompting Congress to question whether the BJP will act against him for allegedly defending untouchability.

Bhatt reportedly said the place was polluted with slogans not fit for a religious place, as he dismissed the criticism over the ritual by the opposition.

Tagging a video of Bhatt’s remarks, Congress’ media and publicity department head Pawan Khera said, “It does not matter that Nadda Ji described the shuddhikaran in Haldwani after Kharge Ji’s rally as ‘unfortunate’. The truth is that discrimination flows through the veins of the RSS-BJP like blood.”

Now, the Uttarakhand BJP president has justified the ‘shuddhikaran’, he claimed.

“In the 21st century, Dalits are still subjected to such dehumanising practices. That itself is a tragedy. But if this can happen to the Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha and one of the tallest Dalit leaders in the country, (it) elucidates how far worse the everyday reality must be for ordinary Dalits,” the Congress leader said.

“Now that its own state president has openly defended untouchability, will the party act against him? Will Modi remove him? If not, then Modi’s grand appeals of unity and respect for Dalits are nothing but another political performance,” Khera said.

Congress spokesperson and social media head Supriya Shrinate also shared the video clip of Bhatt’s remarks.

“This is Uttarakhand BJP President Mahendra Bhatt. He is justifying the purification ritual that took place after Congress President Kharge ji’s rally in Haldwani,” she said on X.

“This is the real BJP — this is the hatred in their hearts towards Dalits. Everything else is mere lip service,” Shrinate said.

Last week, the Congress Working Committee (CWC) had strongly condemned the ‘shuddhikaran’ of the venue in Haldwani, Uttarakhand.

Calling the incident totally unacceptable and questioning Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s silence, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh had said the CWC demanded that Modi must apologise over the issue.

Kharge had dubbed the BJP “anti-religion”, citing the alleged purification ritual following his speech and questioned the ruling party’s “selective interpretation of religious values”.

“You (BJP) are anti-religion because when a person like me goes to Uttarakhand and gives a speech in front of lakhs of people, two days later you conduct a purification ceremony,” he said.

The alleged purification took place at Ramlila Maidan in Haldwani where Kharge had addressed a gathering on August 8.

Uttarakhand Congress chief Ganesh Godiyal has alleged that the Shri Ram Sena that performed the purification ceremony was associated with the BJP, a charge vehemently denied by the ruling party.