Rajendra Pal Gautam, minister in Delhi’s AAP government who was spotted participating in an event where people took an oath boycotting several Hindu Gods, has furnished his resignation. He shared the details of his resignation and the reasons behind it in a two-page letter dated 9th October 2022. Rajendra Pal Gautam was Delhi’s minister of social welfare, cooperation, SC/ST welfare, and Gurudwara election.

In his resignation letter, Rajendra Pal Gautam wrote, “I personally attended the Buddhist Dhamma Deeksha Samaroh organized by Mission Jai Bhim and Buddhist Society of India on the occasion of Ashok Vijayadashami on October 5, 2022, at Ambedkar Bhavan Rani Jhansi Road as a member of society. This had nothing to do with the Aam Aadmi Party and my council of ministers. Babasaheb’s great-grandson Rajratna Ambedkar repeated 22 vows of Babasaheb which were repeated by more than 10000 people as well as me. After that, I see that the BJP is targeting our leader Shri Arvind Kejriwal Ji, and the Aam Aadmi Party, it is very sad for me.”

He added, “22 pledges made by Babasaheb were also published by Shri Thaawar Chand Gehlot, former Union minister of the BJP government (Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment) in Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar: Writings and Speeches, Vol-17. These pledges are repeated every year by crores of people at thousands of places held in every corner of the country. The BJP has objections to these 22 pledges made by Babasaheb and him. Hurt by BJP’s dirty politics, I am resigning from my ministerial post.”

He further said in his resignation letter, “I don’t want any kind of attack on my leader Shri Arvind Kejriwal Ji, and my party because of me. As a true soldier of the party, I will carry out the just and equitable constitutional values shown by The Tathagata Buddha and Babasaheb for life. I will fight for the rights of my sisters and daughters and the people of the community with utmost strength throughout my life. Some People with the Manuwadi mindset are threatening on social media and phones, to harm my life and property, my family, and my colleagues but I am not afraid of all this. I will fight for the rights of our community with utmost courage, honesty, and strength. Even if I have to sacrifice myself in this fight for the rights of the community, I will not let this fight stop.”

On Wednesday (October 5), AAP MLA (Seemapuri) minister Rajendra Pal Gautam was spotted at an event where 10,000 Hindus were converted en masse to Buddhism. The controversial event, organized by the Buddhist Society of India, was conducted at the Dr. BR Ambedkar Bhavan in Jhandewalan in New Delhi. During the event, a saffron-clad man administered an oath to the crowd, which closely resembled the controversial 22 vows of BR Ambedkar. The man urged the Hindus to disassociate themselves from their original Faith and desist from the worship of deities.

The Aam Aadmi Party was widely slammed for this anti-Hindu stand taken by a minister in the Delhi govt, and the BJP had started to use it to paint the party as anti-Hindu in the campaign for Gujarat assembly elections. Party supremo Arvind Kejriwal had gone into a damage control mode calling himself “rabidly religious”, after posters targeting the party had come up in Gujarat. Heeding to the public backlash and with Gujarat assembly elections just months away, AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal called himself ’religious’ and highlighted that he was born on Janmashtami, the birthday of Lord Krishna, to eliminate the children of ‘Kans’.

Talking about the posters, Kejriwal said, “I saw my posters across Gujarat against me. I know they (BJP) hate me. I have no problem with them defaming me, but now they are using abusive words against gods as well. They are insulting gods as well, they are not even sparing gods. They are the descendants of Kansa.”

However, now it seems Arvind Kejriwal is not sure that mere his words will help to wash off the anti-Hindu image of the party painted by Rajendra Pal Gautam’s acts, and therefore he got him to resign.

References:

Arvind Kejriwal hits the panic button ahead of Gujarat polls, gets minister Rajendra Pal Gautam to resign who attended anti-Hindu event