BJP supporters on Wednesday “purified” with Ganga water a statue of Lal Bahadur Shastri that Priyanka Gandhi Vadra had garlanded in Varanasi, the constituency of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The Congress general secretary in charge of eastern Uttar Pradesh had arrived in Varanasi at the end of a three-day boat journey from Allahabad. She had been followed all the way by BJP supporters who chanted “Modi, Modi” and “Priyanka Gandhi murdabad”.

When Priyanka left after garlanding the statue of Shastri, India’s second Prime Minister, at the Ramnagar crossing in Varanasi on Wednesday, the BJP supporters removed the garlands and carried out the “purification”.

Some Congress members tried to stop the BJP group, sparking a brawl.

In response to a question from this newspaper, Kancha Ilaiah, writer and Dalit activist, said: “‘Purification’ is an absolutely meaningless act by bigoted people who do cheap politics…. The BJP is converting India into a primitive nation and causing enormous damage to us.…”

Heramb Chaturvedi, author and history professor at Allahabad University, said: “When garlands are presented to statues of dead people, they are often given to devotees later as prasad…. It is the soul of the deceased that is venerated and not a dead body or statue…. Once the garland itself becomes prasad, where is the question of purifying the statue? This action of people purifying it stems from attempts by some to interpret religious texts according to their own understanding.”

Before garlanding Shastri’s statue on Wednesday, Priyanka addressed a gathering at Assi Ghat and worshipped at Kashi Vishwanath temple.

She asked former and current students of Banaras Hindu University, who had gathered at Assi Ghat, if they had got jobs during Modi’s tenure as Prime Minister. “No,” the youths replied in unison.