”The Constitution Protection Committee-Karnataka has condemned the incident of the “purification” of the venue where All India Congress Committee (AICC) president and Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge held a rally in Haldwani, Uttarakhand, on August 10.

Addressing a press conference, B. Gopal, State president of the committee, said: “This act of purification is not only an insult to Mr. Kharge, who holds a constitutional position, but also to the entire Dalit community.”

Mr. Gopal criticised Union Home Minister Amit Shah for failing to take action against this “unconstitutional purge.”

“Similar incidents of ‘purification’ targeting Dalits have been recorded in history, such as during the Mahad Chavdar Tale Satyagraha led by Dr. B.R. Ambedkar in 1927, at the Mathura temple visited by Jagjivan Ram when he was Deputy Prime Minister, and in the erstwhile Kerala and Madras provinces.”

He complained that the incident involving Mr. Kharge showed that such a mentality was still alive.

The committee demanded that the Union government immediately take strict legal action against the culprits to prevent such incidents from recurring.

Mr. Kharge had addressed the Vijay Shankhnaad rally in Haldwani on August 8, and two days later, a right-wing group reportedly performed a Shuddhikaran (purification) havan at the rally venue.