Uttarakhand | Ask the Dalits of Devbhoomi

It’s risky in a state where privileged castes make up over half the electorate, and savarna consciousness tends to be sharply defined. But the path offers itself, as if tailormade for the Congress—a value proposition, political and moral, coherent with its positioning. The cause also got a direct and powerful symbol—the ‘purification ritual’ conducted by a right-wing group at the venue of party president Mallikarjun Kharge’s August 8 rally in Haldwani. But after a decade of being out of power in Uttarakhand, there remains the small matter of having to win an assembly election.