Congress Dalit MPs to discuss Uttarakhand ‘purification’ ritual at meet on Monday

Congress Dalit MPs are scheduled to convene in Delhi on Monday, September 7 to deliberate on the purported purification ritual that took place in Haldwani following a rally where Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge addressed the gathering on August 8. Party sources revealed to The Indian Express that Congress MP Mallu Ravi has spearheaded the initiative to convene this meeting aimed at debunking the purification event in Haldwani and to devise a course of action to address the issue moving forward.

The party has notified all Dalit and Scheduled Tribes MPs to attend the gathering at Indira Bhawan. A senior Dalit MP stated that the objective of the meeting is to ensure that the incident is not overlooked. Last week, an FIR was filed against Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi in Haldwani town under sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the SC/ST Act.

The FIR was filed the day after Gandhi delivered a press conference in New Delhi, urging Prime Minister Narendra Modi to initiate an FIR over a "shuddhikaran havan" (purification ritual) conducted at Ramlila Maidan in Haldwani, which occurred in the days following a rally held by Kharge, a Dalit leader and Congress president.