LEADER OF OPPOSITION in the Rajya Sabha and Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge expressed his deep anguish on August 13, two days before the 80th Independence Day celebrations, that he was made to “feel the sting of untouchability.” These painful utterances were made by him after a “purification” ritual was performed allegedly by some BJP people at the venue in Uttarakhand’s Haldwani where he addressed a public meeting on August 8.
Untouchability is Contrary to the Vision of Swaraj
It is instructive that during freedom struggle Mahatma Gandhi used to repeatedly assert that the removal of untouchability was an indispensable condition for attaining Swaraj, for he conjured up the vision of Swaraj not just in terms of liberation of India from British colonial rule but also liberation from the long festering social scourge of untouchability.
Kharge hails from a Dalit background. So the purification of the site, allegedly by BJP leaders, where he addressed a massive rally smacks of the attempts by them to treat him as an untouchable so that the pollution caused by his presence at the venue would be purified. So, the sting of untouchability he suffered due to this socially retrograde action is certainly the travesty of Swaraj envisioned by Gandhi and the Constitution’s provision under Article 17, which abolishes “untouchability”. The said Article states, ““Untouchability” is abolished and its practice in any form is forbidden. The enforcement of any disability arising out of “Untouchability” shall be an offence punishable in accordance with law.”
This emancipatory Article which forms part of the fundamental rights chapter of the Constitution discards the “purity-pollution” logic defining an occupation or action.
