An FIR has been registered against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for allegedly promoting enmity between groups and deliberately outraging religious feelings, PTI reported on Sunday.
The case was filed a day after Gandhi called for an FIR against those who carried out a “purification” ritual at a ground in Uttarakhand where Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge had addressed a rally earlier this month.
Police in Haldwani also invoked provisions of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act against Gandhi.
The complaint was filed by a member of the Shri Ram Sena Dharmarth Seva Nyas, the organisation that conducted the ritual at Haldwani’s Ramlila Ground.
The complainant said he belonged to the Valmiki community and had attended the “ritual and cleanliness drive” on August 11 along with other members of the Scheduled Caste community, PTI reported.
He alleged that Gandhi, during a press conference on Saturday, had described those who took part in the ritual as practising “untouchability” and being “anti-Dalit”. The remarks, he said, had offended members of the community.
The complainant also said the ritual had “no connection” with Kharge’s caste, according to the news agency.
On Monday, the Congress hit back, describing the case against Gandhi as a case of the pot calling the kettle black.
“What is worse, the BJP has actually jumped in to defend this abhorrently casteist behaviour – showing to the entire world that they are the biggest perpetrators of social injustice today,” Congress leader KC Venugopal said. “They are willing to put the entire might of the state to attack those who speak against Dalit atrocities.”
Gandhi had said on Saturday that the Haldwani incident amounted to “an act of untouchability” against Kharge carried out under the guise of “purification”. He said untouchability was a punishable offence under the Constitution.
Kharge raised the issue in the Rajya Sabha on August 13 and called for the arrest of those who conducted the ritual. Union minister JP Nadda said the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party “does not subscribe to such activities” and that the matter would be investigated.
The Congress’ Uttarakhand unit has alleged that the Shri Ram Sena Dharmarth Seva Nyas has links to the BJP. The party has denied any association with the organisation, while saying that slogans raised during Kharge’s rally had offended people who followed Sanatana Dharma.
Sanatana Dharma is a term used by some people as a synonym for Hinduism.
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