Jaipur: After facing massive backlash and being termed an “anti-Dalit party”, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Rajasthan on Tuesday (April 8) issued a show cause notice and suspended party leader and former three-time MLA Gyan Dev Ahuja from the party’s primary membership after he claimed to have “purified” a temple after the visit of a senior Dalit Congress leader.Earlier, the opposition Congress in Rajasthan accused it of working against Dalits after Ahuja sprinkled water from the river Ganga inside a temple in Alwar district and claimed that he did it to “purify” the temple, following a visit by Rajasthan leader of opposition (LoP) Tika Ram Jully.Ahuja has previously stoked controversy with his statements supporting cow vigilantes, and accusations against students of the Jawaharlal Nehru University.Jully, who is the first Dalit politician in Rajasthan to become the leader of opposition in the state assembly, had attended the consecration ceremony of a Ram temple in Alwar’s Apna Ghar Shalimar residential society on the occasion of Ram Navami on Sunday (April 6).On the day of Jully’s visit to the temple, Ahuja, who was thrice elected to the assembly from Alwar’s Ramgarh, termed the Congress leader as “anti-Sanatan”.Ahuja said that “wherever his [Jully’s] impure feet have walked and on the idols that his impure hands have touched” he would sprinkle Ganga water. He also said it was his solemn vow to offer a prayer to Ram.Ahuja went to the temple on Monday (April 7) and followed up on his promise.“Don’t make temples impure. This is the temple of Lord Ram. I have sprinkled Ganga water on his feet. It had to be purified with Gangajal because impure people had come in. I won’t take the name of such people from my mouth and make it impure,” Ahuja said after sprinkling Ganga water inside the temple.‘They are washing the temple with Gangajal because I am a Dalit’As videos of Ahuja’s act were circulated widely on social media, Congress leaders including Jully himself attacked the BJP.“The statement of senior BJP leader Shri Gyandev Ahuja is indicative of BJP’s mentality towards Dalits. I had raised the voice of Dalits in the assembly and talked about running a campaign against untouchability, but BJP’s mentality is that they are talking about washing the temple with Gangajal if I visit the temple because I am a Dalit,” said LoP Jully in a post on X.भाजपा के वरिष्ठ नेता श्री ज्ञानदेव आहूजा का बयान भाजपा की दलितों के प्रति मानसिकता का परिचायक है। मैंने विधानसभा में दलितों की आवाज उठाते हुए छुआछूत के विरुद्ध अभियान चलाने की बात कही थी पर भाजपा की मानसिकता ये है कि वो मेरे दलित होने के कारण मंदिर जाने पर गंगाजल से मंदिर धुलवाने…— Tika Ram Jully (@TikaRamJullyINC) April 7, 2025He added that this was not only an attack on his personal faith but also a statement promoting the crime of untouchability.“Does BJP hate Dalits so much that it cannot even see us doing puja? Do only BJP leaders have the right over god? The chief minister and BJP state president should clarify whether they support the statement of washing the temple with Gangajal if Dalits visit the temple?” said Jully.Former Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot also condemned the incident and said that it showed the “ill will” of the BJP towards Dalits.“Such narrow-mindedness is not acceptable in a civilised society in the 21st century,” said Gehlot in a post on X.BJP in damage control, suspends AhujaFollowing the furore over Ahuja’s statements and repeated statements by Congress leaders, Rajasthan BJP president Madan Rathore issued a statement, distancing the party from Ahuja’s act.“We don’t agree with this at all. We couldn’t understand why he said this. I called him (Ahuja) over the telephone and asked. He said that he meant Congress and Jully’s opposition to Ram Setu, etc. I told him that this is wrong and I don’t agree with this. Our party doesn’t believe in such things. We don’t support his statement,” said Rathore on Monday.Later on Tuesday (April 8), BJP suspended Ahuja and issued him a show cause notice saying that his statements and act of sprinkling Ganga water inside the temple after Jully’s visit have tarnished the image of the party.“This act of yours comes under the definition of grave indiscipline,” says the show cause notice issued to Ahuja.Ahuja has been asked by the party to submit his response within three days, otherwise it will be assumed that he has nothing to say and further disciplinary action will be taken, says the show cause notice.BJP’s unease on being perceived as ‘anti-Dalit’The BJP’s swift action after following the criticism that it faced due to the actions of Ahuja reflect the party’s unease on being perceived as an anti-Dalit party.At the national stage, opposition parties that are part of the INDIA alliance including the Congress and Samajwadi Party have been consistently demanding a nationwide caste census, and accusing the BJP of being against marginalised communities.At a press conference on Monday, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav had emphasised his call for an alliance between the PDA (pichhde, Dalit, alpsankhyak – backward, Dalit and minority) and stated that once, after he had visited a temple, BJP leaders had washed it with gangajal.“When the chief minister’s residence was vacated, it was also washed with Gangajal,” Yadav said, referring to the time when he stepped down as the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh in 2017 after the BJP’s victory.At such a juncture, such incidents could further alienate the saffron party from its Dalit voters.In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, which saw the BJP being restricted below the majority mark, the saffron party had performed poorly in seats reserved for Dalits. While it had won 46 reserved parliamentary seats for the Scheduled Castes in 2019, it won only 29 seats in 2024.