Within hours of Narendra Modi paying homage at the statue of Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya on the BHU campus, Samajwadi Party workers washed the statue with “ganga jal” (water from the Ganga), claiming that it had been “desecrated” by the BJP’s prime ministerial nominee. They said the statue of the national leader had to be washed as Mr. Modi was “involved in 2002 Gujarat riots.”