New Delhi: The Congress-BJP sparring over the alleged "purification ceremony" in Haldwani intensified on Monday, with the BJP accusing the opposition party of doing petty politics on the issue due to upcoming assembly polls and calling Rahul Gandhi the "most anti-Dalit leader" in the country.
The BJP's response came after the Congress lashed out at the ruling party over the registration of an FIR against Gandhi, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, over his recent remarks on the "shuddhikaran" ritual at the venue where Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge, who is a Dalit, addressed a rally in Uttarakhand last month.
Gandhi had alleged that it was a form of practising untouchability.
The FIR was registered against Gandhi on Saturday following a complaint by a member of the Valmiki community in Haldwani alleging that the Congress leader at a recent press conference gave a casteist spin to a "religious ritual".
The Congress on Monday vowed that it would not rest until the true culprits are punished and this "frivolous FIR is thrown in the dustbin". The main opposition party also said it will give a fitting response to the registration of the FIR through democratic and legal means.
Hitting back, BJP spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia alleged that the Congress is playing "petty politics" over the issue because the party knows it is set to suffer setbacks in the next round of assembly elections due in various states in 2027.
He also questioned why it took Gandhi three weeks to raise the issue and alleged that the Gandhi family had insulted Kharge on several occasions.
"It’s a different matter whether his (Kharge’s) allegation is right or wrong, but Rahul Gandhi didn’t care. He kept sleeping for three weeks,” he said.
"There has never been a leader in India more irresponsible, anti-Dalit and anti-backward classes than Rahul Gandhi," Bhatia told a press conference at the BJP headquarters here, while replying to queries on the issue.
The FIR has been registered under various provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) related to promoting enmity between groups and deliberate acts intended to outrage religious feelings. The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, has also been invoked, police said on Sunday.
“Rahul Gandhi had time for globe-trotting. When anyone belonging to the Dalit community levels an allegation, Rahul Gandhi doesn’t take it seriously. He is now trying to show that he cares for people coming from backward castes,” the BJP spokesperson said.
"It seems Gandhi raised the issue only after Kharge asked him, saying what's the point in staying in the Congress when his issue is not being raised," he added.
Bhatia alleged that it was the Congress which insulted Kharge by making him sit in the second row of seats behind Sonia Gandhi at the returning officer’s office when Priyanka Gandhi Vadra filed her nomination to contest bypolls from Kerala's Wayanad Lok Sabha seat in November 2024.
Gandhi remained silent when his party leader Udit Raj called former President Ram Nath Kovind, a Dalit, a "disgrace to society" and also made objectionable remarks against President Droupadi Murmu, the BJP spokesperson charged, accusing the Congress leader of adopting "double standards".
"Deep down, Mallikarjun Kharge also hates Rahul Gandhi. He knows it well that he will not get any respect in the Congress because he does not belong to the Gandhi family," he said.
"Rahul Gandhi is like that failed product the Congress repeatedly attempts to launch, yet this defective product never quite launches successfully," the BJP leader said.
Assembly polls are due in Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Goa, Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat in 2027. The BJP is in power in five of these poll-bound states, except Punjab and Himachal Pradesh. While the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) currently rules Punjab, the Congress is in power in Himachal Pradesh.
