‘Abhorrently casteist’: Congress leaders protest FIR against Rahul over Haldwani remarks

The Uttarakhand Police booked Rahul Gandhi a day after he demanded that BJP workers be prosecuted for the “purification” ritual carried out at the venue of Mallikarjun Kharge’s rally in Haldwani.

2 min readNew DelhiUpdated: Sep 1, 2026 04:40 AM IST

‘Abhorrently casteist’: Congress leaders protest FIR against Rahul over Haldwani remarks

Assam Pradesh Congress Committee members protest the FIR against LoP Rahul Gandhi in Guwahati on Monday. (ANI)

Congress workers on Monday held protests over the FIR lodged against Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi in Uttarakhand’s Haldwani under sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the SC/ST Act.

Congress general secretary (organisation) K C Venugopal said Gandhi had demanded an FIR against BJP workers for the “purification” ceremony after Congress president and Dalit leader Mallikarjun Kharge’s rally in Haldwani earlier this month, but the Uttarakhand Police filed an FIR against Gandhi instead.

“This is nothing but the pot calling the kettle black! What is worse, BJP has jumped in to defend this abhorrently casteist behaviour, showing to the world that they are the biggest perpetrators of social injustice today,” said Venugopal. He alleged that the BJP is willing to put the entire might of the State to attack those who speak against Dalit atrocities. “What BJP has done is to attack the values of social justice enshrined in the Constitution, and Congress will fight against this attack tooth and nail…”

Also Read | Kharge ‘purification’ row : How the ‘shuddhi’ practice started, evolved

“This evening, Congress workers across the country will be on the streets demanding prosecution of the BJP leaders who insulted Kharge ji and to defend our Constitution against the BJP’s assault on its values of social justice,” Venugopal said.

On Monday, Congress MP and in-charge for Uttarakhand Selja Kumari met Kharge and said Congress is planning a protest on September 7. The FIR was lodged a day after Gandhi, at a press conference in Delhi, urged PM Narendra Modi to order an FIR over “shuddhikaran havan” (purification ritual) held at Ramlila Maidan in Haldwani, days after a rally there by Kharge..”

Asad Rehman

Asad Rehman is with the national bureau of The Indian Express and covers politics and policy focusing on religious minorities in India. A journalist for over eight years, Rehman moved to this role after covering Uttar Pradesh for five years for The Indian Express. During his time in Uttar Pradesh, he covered politics, crime, health, and human rights among other issues. He did extensive ground reports and covered the protests against the new citizenship law during which many were killed in the state. During the Covid pandemic, he did extensive ground reporting on the migration of workers from the metropolitan cities to villages in Uttar Pradesh. He has also covered some landmark litigations, including the Babri Masjid-Ram temple case and the ongoing Gyanvapi-Kashi Vishwanath temple dispute. Prior to that, he worked on The Indian Express national desk for three years where he was a copy editor. Rehman studied at La Martiniere, Lucknow and then went on to do a bachelor's degree in History from Ramjas College, Delhi University. He also has a Masters degree from the AJK Mass Communication Research Centre, Jamia Millia Islamia. ... Read More

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