NEW DELHI: The Aam Aadmi Party MLA and former Social Welfare Minister Rajendra Pal Gautam organised a “Caste Elimination Sankalp yatra” from his residence at Rajniwas Marg, Civil Lines to the Ambedkar Bhawan, Alipur road on October 14. It was on the occasion of Dhammachakra Pravartan Din or Dhammachakra Pravartan Diwas (Dhamma Wheel’s Promulgation Day), which is a Buddhist festival in India. It is a day on which B.R. Ambedkar had converted into a Buddhist along with his 600,000 followers at Deekshabhoomi, Nagpur in 1956.
Thousands of people thronged outside Rajendra’s house with a Buddhist flag in their hands and sloganeering “Jai Bhim” and marched to the Ambedkar National memorial in front of the Delhi assembly.
“We organised this march as a resolution to eradicate the caste system and untouchability from the society,” said Rajendra Pal Gautam before the march. Addressing the gathering, he reiterated the discrimination faced by the lower castes in the country and also criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home minister Amit shah to remain mum on such incidents.
Tholkappiyan Thirumavalavan, a member of parliament from Tamil Nadu also joined in the march with Gautam. Gautam resigned as Delhi’s social welfare minister on Sunday amid a controversy over his presence at a religious conversion event where Hindu deities were allegedly denounced. After his resignation, Gautam was quizzed by police at his residence on Monday.
He had earlier said that he attended the event in his personal capacity and it had nothing to do with his party or the ministry. Meanwhile, on Thursday Buddhist religious gurus appealed to President Droupadi Murmu to take immediate legal action against the former Delhi minister for supporting public incitement with the intent to create rift and unrest between communities. Reacting to this, Gautam said these people are affiliated with the Bharatiya Janata Party and they have no knowledge about Buddhism and Ambedkar’s ideals.