Rahul Gandhi wants monitoring of colleagues after Kharge laments their silence on Haldwani ‘purification ritual’

During the Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting on August 20, 2026, Rahul Gandhi expressed discontent with his colleagues for not adequately addressing social justice issues. When party president Mallikarjun Kharge lamented the lack of public support for the "purification ritual" held in Haldwani, Uttarakhand, Gandhi asked Supriya Shrinate, the party's social media head, to create regular reports on the level of amplification of the party's official stance on issues.

Kharge claimed that the party had strongly condemned the incident, but Gandhi appeared unconvinced. The meeting also revealed a divergence of opinion between senior leader Manish Tewari and Rahul Gandhi regarding recent student protests. Tewari argued that there were only a few "organic protests" and cited examples such as anti-Hindi protests in Tamil Nadu in the 1960s, student resistance in north India against the English language, the Navnirman agitation in Gujarat in the mid-1970s, and the Mandal agitation in the late 1980s.

Gandhi countered this assertion, asserting that students had supported Congress in the late 1970s and early 1980s. This marked the third instance of Gandhi opposing Tewari's views during a CWC closed-door meeting. Tewari, who did not engage with the media or issue any statement post-meeting, posted a cryptic message on X, referencing former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill's quote about dictators who are strong externally but weak internally.