Congress stages protests across states over fir against Rahul

Congress party units in multiple states organized protests on Monday in response to the Uttarakhand Police filing a First Information Report (FIR) against Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi. The FIR was lodged by Amit Kumar of the Shree Ram Sena Dharmarth Seva Samiti, who accused Gandhi of promoting religious and caste-based enmity following a "shuddikaran" (purification) ceremony at the Ramlila ground in Haldwani following a public rally led by party president Mallikarjun Kharge, a Dalit community member.

Gandhi had demanded that Prime Minister Narendra Modi issue an FIR against those responsible for the "shuddikaran" incident. In reaction to the FIR, Congress general secretary KC Venugopal directed party state and district units to hold large-scale protest marches on Monday evening, condemning the act as "vendetta politics" and demanding immediate legal action against the accused BJP workers. Venugopal urged maximum mobilization and media outreach, urging participation from party officials at various levels.

The protests took place in Karnataka, West Bengal, Bihar, and Goa, with Congress leaders Randeep Surjewala and Jairam Ramesh also criticizing the BJP over the FIR. Surjewala accused the BJP of defending casteist behavior and using state machinery to target those who speak out against caste discrimination. Jairam Ramesh highlighted the issue of injustice faced by Dalits, alleging that the BJP-RSS had quickly proven Rahul Gandhi's concerns about the incident.