Members of the Indian Youth Congress, led by its national president Uday Bhanu Chib, burnt copies of Manusmriti outside the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) headquarters in Delhi on Sunday, August 30, 2026. They staged a protest and raised slogans like “Manusmriti Nahi Samvidhan Chahiye” (We choose the Constitution, not the Manusmriti) and “Daliton ka ye Apmaan Nahi Sahega Hindustan” (India will not tolerate insults to Dalits).
The Youth Congress members were protesting against the alleged act of untouchability committed against Congress national president Mallikarjun Kharge, who comes from the Dalit community, in Haldwani, Uttarakhand. The Indian Youth Congress President repeated the allegations of his leader, Rahul Gandhi, and alleged that BJP and RSS members displayed untouchability against Kharge.
The allegation refers to a Havan ceremony organised at a ground in Haldwani on August 10 after a Congress rally was held there on August 8. The rally was attended by Kharge, and the Congress Party claimed that the Havan ceremony was performed for the shuddhikaran (purification) of the place after Kharge visited it. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi claimed that the shuddhikaran was performed by BJP members and accused the BJP of promoting casteism and untouchability against Dalits.
The counter to Rahul Gandhi and his party’s allegations came directly from the organisers of the Havan ceremony, who included members from the Dalit community. Members of the Shri Ram Seva Dharmarth Nyas, which organised the Havan ceremony, stated before the media that the ground where the Congress rally was held was left filthy and full of trash and bottles filled with urine after the rally. The ground is used to organise the Ram Leela event, and therefore, the organisation cleaned it and performed a puja ceremony to restore its sanctity. The organisation outrightly rejected the claim that Havan was organised to purify the ground since Kharge, a Dalit, had visited it.
Speaking on the occasion, IYC National President Uday Bhanu Chib stated that the RSS-BJP ideology is inspired by the Manusmriti and is “anti-Dalit.” “The RSS-BJP ideology is inspired by the Manusmriti, which is anti-Dalit. There is a battle between two ideologies in the country: that of the Constitution and that of the BJP-RSS. The ‘purification’ of the stage following Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge’s program in Uttarakhand is an insult not just to one individual, but to crores of Dalits in the country and to the very soul of the Constitution,” he said in a release.
“We will continue to fight against this casteist mindset because this country will be governed by the Constitution, not by the Manusmriti,” he added. During the protest, Chib, who was holding a copy of the Constitution, burned the Manusmriti outside the Sangh headquarters. IYC National General Secretary Hari Krishna and other Youth Congress office-bearers were also present. 1820
During the protest, the Delhi Police detained IYC National President Uday Bhanu Chib and took him to the Paharganj police station. 1820
An FIR has been registered against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for allegedly giving a caste-based interpretation to a religious ritual held in Haldwani, Uttarakhand. The FIR was lodged at Haldwani Kotwali police station on the complaint of Amit Kumar, a resident of Ward No. 15 in Haldwani, who said he had participated in the purification programme. According to the complaint, remarks made by Gandhi regarding the incident were allegedly insulting to the Dalit community and people who took part in the programme. 1827
Congress leaders alleged that the venue was purified because Kharge is a Dalit leader and accused the BJP and RSS of having an anti-Dalit mindset. The BJP rejected the allegations. 1828
Dalit leader and former Uttar Pradesh CM Mayawati had once accused Rahul Gandhi of taking baths after meeting Dalits. Despite the clarification and after knowing that the BJP had nothing to do with the puja ceremony, Rahul Gandhi and the Congress ecosystem are still dragging the BJP and the RSS into the manufactured controversy. 1819
For the Youth Congress and Congress leadership, the burning of Manusmriti outside RSS headquarters is a symbolic protest against what they term as the BJP-RSS’s “casteist mindset,” even as an FIR has been registered against Rahul Gandhi for allegedly insulting the Dalit community by giving a caste-based interpretation to a religious purification ritual in Haldwani.
