On Saturday, a statue of BR Ambedkar was purified with Gangajaal in Begusarai in Bihar by the party workers of the Communist Party of India (CPI) and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), after the said statue was garlanded by Union Minister Giriraj Singh on the previous day.
Bihar: CPI (Communist Party of India) & RJD (Rashtriya Janata Dal) workers washed the statue of BR Ambedkar (in pic 3), after Union Minister Giriraj Singh garlanded the statue in Begusarai. (14.02.2020) pic.twitter.com/opwCPqpaAN
— ANI (@ANI) February 15, 2020
The workers of CPI and RJD claimed that the statue of the Father of the Indian Constitution was “defiled” by the Union Minister. They alleged that Giriraj Singh “polluted” the atmosphere by his presence. The statue is located in a park named after Ambedkar in Ballila area.
The “Shuddhikaran” ceremony spearheaded by local CPI leader Sanoj Saroj and RJD’s Vikas Paswan and Rup Narayan Paswan began by sprinkling “Gangajal” on the statue, followed by chants of “Jai Bhim” and “Phule.” The sculpture was then thoroughly washed. Meanwhile, the same group of people also labelled Giriraj Singh a “Manuvaadi.” They alleged that Singh stood for everything that Ambedkar had fought against and therefore his garlanding of the statue was tantamount to “defiling it”.
Reacting to the incident, district BJP president Raj Kishor Singh said, “This will not be tolerated. Ambedkar has been an ideal for all sections of society and nobody has a monopoly over him. The nation will not tolerate such antics.” The incident has, however, taken everyone by surprise for multiple reasons.
First, the “purification” process is reminiscent of the days when untouchability was practised in India. The said practice was once used to alienate the Dalits and other lower caste people by upper-caste Hindus. RJD that represents the Yadavs (OBCs) was spearheading the very ritual that has oppressed them for years. This was an astounding case of “reverse casteism” and “reverse untouchability” in action. Now the communist and Dalit leaders consider the general category Hindus as untouchables, and feel the need to purify something with gangajal touched by them.
Second, the Communist party derides Hinduism and its practices almost every day. It claims to fight against casteism and sees “Manumad” and “Bhrammanical patriarchy” in almost every Hindu practice in India. It was indeed ironic to see how CPI workers used Gangajaal (the Holy water for the Hindus) to cleanse the “pollution” caused by someone whom they consider as “Manuwadi.”
Leftists in India and elsewhere are known to be experts at virtue-signalling. They often preach what they don’t practise themselves. In this case, they fought casteism by indulging in a casteist practice. At other times, they act as crusaders of “free speech” but never leave any stone unturned to silence dissenting voices and those who do not adhere to their narrative.
