Ambedkar asks Rahul Gandhi to file FIR in Kharge ‘purification’ row, says ‘walk the talk’
Prakash Ambedkar criticises Congress for slow response to Kharge ‘purification’ ceremony, demands Rahul Gandhi file FIR.
Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) chief Prakash Ambedkar on Sunday took aim at the Congress leadership over its handling of the ‘purification’ ceremony held in Haldwani, Uttarakhand, after party president Mallikarjun Kharge’s rally there. In a video message, Ambedkar questioned why Congress workers remained silent for so long on what he called a casteist act.
His remarks came a day after Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, described the ceremony as amounting to untouchability. Ambedkar noted that Kharge himself had expressed sorrow over the lack of explicit condemnation from his own party members. He added that Gandhi’s press conference on the issue came only after a 15-day delay.
Ambedkar criticised the party’s rank and file for their initial silence, saying that if leaders who stay quiet on casteism faced by their own president are no better than the BJP’s ‘Manuvadis’, then Gandhi’s prime ministerial ambitions ring hollow. He dismissed the use of a presentation by Gandhi as insufficient, asserting that everyone already knows the RSS-BJP was behind the incident.
The VBA chief then challenged Gandhi to file an FIR to help Kharge get justice. He invoked the English phrase ‘walk the talk’, urging Gandhi to back his words with concrete action. Ambedkar warned that if Gandhi does not fight for his own party president, Dalit and marginalised communities will draw their own conclusions.