The most prominent Dalit leader of the Aam Aadmi Party announced his resignation from the Delhi cabinet after a tirade by the BJP against his participation in an event where 10,000 people reportedly took B.R. Ambedkar’s 22 vows, including the renunciation of Hinduism, and affirmed their faith in Buddhism.
Rajendra Pal Gautam was seen in a video of the Asoka Vijayadashami celebrations — an annual event to commemorate Babasaheb Ambedkar and his followers accepting Buddhism in 1956 in Nagpur — at Ambedkar Bhavan in Jhandewalan here on October 5.
The programme is held across India in October, and was organised here by Mission Jai Bheem and the Buddhist Society of India, whose leader and Ambedkar’s great-grandnephew Rajratna was also present.
The BJP held media conferences the following day, denouncing Gautam, the AAP and chief minister Arvind Kejriwal as anti-Hindu, and complained to police accusing them of incitement.
In Gujarat, where Kejriwal is now campaigning, posters of Kejriwal wearing a skull cap appeared with Ambedkar’s vows written in Gujarati. These include a vow to give up the worship of Hindu deities.
Sources in the Delhi chief minister’s office told reporters on Saturday that Kejriwal was “displeased” with Gautam, although the AAP governments in Delhi and Punjab now display images of Bhagat Singh and Ambedkar at all their offices.
In an open letter, Gautam emphasised that the vows are printed in the 17-volume series, Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar: Writings and Speeches, published by the Centre’s Dr Ambedkar Foundation which issued a second reprint in 2019.
Gautam wrote: “For the last few years, I am constantly seeing that the honour of the sisters and daughters of my society is being looted and they are killed. At some places, there are killings for honour, at other places on entering the temple and touching the idol. They are being beaten to death with humiliation. Even children are being brutally murdered for touching a pot of water. The mare is taken out of the procession. My heart is pierced every day by incidents of such caste discrimination.”
Gautam added that he had attended the event in his personal capacity.
“After that, I see that the BJP is targeting our leader Arvind Kejriwal and the Aam Aadmi Party. It is sad for me…. These vows are repeated by crores of people at thousands of places, organised in every corner of the country. But the BJP has objection to these 22 vows given by Babasaheb. The BJP is using this to do dirty politics and as this has hurt me, I am tendering my resignation,” he said.
Kejriwal has remained silent on the development. A source said the chief minister would act on Gautam’s resignation after returning from Gujarat.
BJP spokesperson Tajinder Bagga tweeted: “Power of 100 crore Hindus’ unity. Anti-Hindu Kejriwal Minister Rajendra Pal Out.”
Author and Ambedkarite intellectual Dilip Mandal tweeted: “Arvind Kejriwal did not try to stop the Delhi riots…. His offer to the minorities is that if you do not come to me, where will you go? Now he has pulled his hand away from the Dalits. This could be the beginning of their downfall.”
A second-time MLA, Gautam is responsible for a scheme to coach Dalit and tribal children in the capital for the IIT-JEE and NEET. A lawyer by profession, he used to teach children from poor families.
He tweeted: “Today is the manifestation day of Maharishi Valmiki ji and it is also the death anniversary of Manyavar Kanshi Ram Saheb (the Bahujan Samaj Party founder). In such a coincidence, today I have been freed from many shackles and today I have been born again. Now I will continue to fight for rights and (against) atrocities on society more firmly without any restrictions.”
Boycott call
While the BJP accused Gautam of being “anti-Hindu”, its own legislators made communal speeches on Sunday.
At a Vishwa Hindu Parishad meeting in north Delhi against the murder of a Hindu man, allegedly by three men from a minority community, West Delhi MP Parvesh Verma said: “They sell things from makeshift stalls. You don’t have to buy vegetables from their stalls. They sell non-veg. We should approach the Municipal Corporation of Delhi and get it to shut all shops whose owners don’t have a licence. Boycott their restaurants. If you want to teach them a lesson, total boycott is the only way out.”
Nand Kishor Gujjar, BJP MLA from neighbouring Loni in Uttar Pradesh, said: “There were riots in Delhi over the CAA…. We will kill jihadis, but those who believe in Bharat Mata and say ‘Bharat Mata ki jai’, we will not kill them. Those who consider Lord Ram as their ancestor, we will not tell them anything.”
