New Delhi: Thirty-two Congress parliamentarians belonging to the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe communities will meet President Droupadi Murmu on today (September 9) to hand over a memorandum demanding action over the alleged “purification yajna” carried out at the site of party president Mallikarjun Kharge’s rally in Haldwani, Uttarakhand.
The MPs, who convened at the party’s Indira Bhawan headquarters on Monday, denounced the episode as a grave insult to the honour and self-respect of SC-ST groups and a brazen violation of constitutional principles of equality and the eradication of untouchability.
They finalised a representation calling for the President’s intervention and sought the registration of a case under the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act against those behind the ritual, as reported by The New Indian Express.
Outrage Over ‘Purification’ After Kharge Rally
The row traces back to August 11, when certain individuals are said to have performed a “shuddhikaran” or “purification” ceremony at Ramlila Ground in Haldwani, three days after Kharge addressed a public gathering there on August 8.
Senior Congress leaders, including Rahul Gandhi and Kharge, have slammed the act as nothing short of untouchability. Kharge has also written to Rajya Sabha Leader of the House J P Nadda, pressing him to direct Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami to ensure an FIR is lodged.
MPs Form SC-ST Forum
Besides approaching the President, the MPs announced the creation of a parliamentary forum aimed at systematically highlighting concerns affecting SC-ST communities within the House.
Lok Sabha member Mallu Ravi, speaking to reporters after the meeting, said 32 SC-ST MPs, along with Congress’s national coordinator (SC, ST, OBC and Minority Department) K Raju and department president Rajendra Pal Gautam, took part in the discussions.
“We discussed the shocking purification incident in Haldwani following Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge’s rally. We have decided to form a parliamentary forum to fight this at all levels. We will be submitting a representation to the president of India on Tuesday,” Ravi said.
Raju added that the newly constituted SC-ST forum would meet to decide strategies for raising community issues in Parliament.
The controversy has already sparked protests in Uttarakhand, including a Congress march in Dehradun that turned confrontational, and counter-demonstrations by BJP activists.