Dehradun, Aug. 30 -- The Uttarakhand unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said the party has no connection with the alleged "purification" of the venue in Haldwani where Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge addressed a rally, after Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Saturday demanded the registration of an FIR over the ritual. The development came after state BJP president Mahendra Bhatt on Wednesday allegedly defended the purification ritual, reigniting the controversy. "Kharge's rally was held at Ramlila Maidan in Haldwani where such slogans were raised that were inappropriate. The place was defiled, and it was later purified... Congress leaders are actually making a mockery of their own leader Kharge," Bhatt said. Bhatt's statement came days after Leader of the House in the Rajya Sabha JP Nadda said the BJP does not subscribe to such practices and would initiate an investigation into the incident. The BJP on Saturday fielded its prominent Dalit face and state minister Khajan Dass to defend the party. Addressing a press conference at the state BJP headquarters in Dehradun, Dass said, "Congress is spreading rumours... trying to mislead the Dalit community... saying that the venue was purified and Kharge ji was insulted... there was no such intention... BJP has no connection with it. A havan and purification ritual was conducted by an organisation. According to the organisation, it was organised in protest against Islamic slogans raised during Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge's rally and the presence of anti-Hindu elements at the event." "When the matter was raised in Parliament by Kharge, our leader JP Nadda had assured that a probe would be conducted. When the investigation was conducted... it came to light that no one from the BJP was involved in the purification ritual," the minister for minority welfare said. "Congress has never been a well-wisher of Dalits... it oppressed them and merely used them as a vote bank... BR Ambedkar was not given the Bharat Ratna during their rule. It was given only after the VP Singh government came to power in 1990... they did not allow Jagjivan Ram to become PM," he said. Meanwhile, Congress workers led by Uttarakhand Pradesh Congress Scheduled Caste wing president Madan Lal on Saturday staged a protest outside BJP state president Mahendra Bhatt's residence in Dehradun over his alleged support for the "purification ritual". Rahul Gandhi earlier in the day addressed a press conference in Delhi over the incident. "Whatever happened to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge ji in Haldwani is untouchability against him, disguised as 'purification', and untouchability is a punishable offence under the Indian Constitution," he said, adding that Dalits across the country face humiliation from birth to death. "The louder their voice rises, the fiercer the attack on them becomes," he said. He asked why an FIR has not been registered into the matter despite 20 days having passed since the incident. Gandhi alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "anti-Dalit" ideology was visible to Dalits across the country. He said, "An FIR must be filed under the SC-ST Act at the earliest, action must be taken, and justice must be served." Suryakant Dhasmana, state Congress vice president, said Uttarakhand BJP president Mahendra Bhatt's defence of the purification ritual showed that the BJP supported the act. He alleged that the incident reflected the BJP's "anti-Dalit and anti-Constitutional mindset" and said the Congress would work to expose the party's anti-Dalit, anti-poor, anti-backward class and anti-Constitutional position not only in Uttarakhand but across the country. Dhasmana, referring to Gandhi's statement, said the Congress would launch an agitation across the country if action was not taken. On August 8, Kharge addressed a Congress rally at Ramlila Maidan in Haldwani. Subsequently, Hindu right-wing organisation Shri Ram Sena Dharmarth Seva Nyas conducted a "purification" ritual at the venue. The Congress alleged the organisation was linked to the BJP, a charge the party denied....