Mass conversion: AAP minister Rajendra Pal Gautam quits as pledge row snowballs
NEW DELHI: Embattled AAP minister Rajendra Pal Gautam on Sunday resigned from Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s cabinet, adding a new twist to the drama, days after he stoked a controversy by participating in a mass religious conversion event here and subsequently apologised.
“The BJP is doing dirty politics. I do not want my leader Arvind Kejriwal or the party to be in any trouble because of me,” he said in his resignation letter. A video clip of a mass conversion of Dalits to Buddhism in Delhi that went viral embarrassed the AAP as Hindu deities were denounced in a pledge at the event.
After Kejriwal conveyed his displeasure, apparently because the BJP had weaponised the clip against the AAP in poll-bound Gujarat, Gautam apologised on Friday but changed tack on Sunday. The viral video clip had showed Gautam and others taking a pledge saying, “We will not worship Hindu gods and goddesses... I shall have no faith in Brahma, Vishnu, and Maheshwara, nor shall I worship them. I shall have no faith in Rama and Krishna, who are believed to be the incarnation of God, nor shall I worship them.”
In his resignation letter in Hindi, Gautam sought to distance the AAP from the event, saying, “I participated in it on October 5 in my personal capacity.” Rajratana Ambedkar, the great-grandson of Dr B R Ambedkar, read out 22 pledges people take while embracing Buddhism at the event. He and others repeated them, Gautam said.
If Gautam hoped for the dust to settle, he was mistaken, as Delhi BJP chief Adesh Gupta termed his resignation a ‘victory for Hindus’, adding it didn’t show any remorse. The Opposition demanded the resignations of Manish Sisodia and Satyendar Jain over allegations of corruption.
Clearing the air
“The pledges...were published in Volume 17 of Dr Balasaheb Ambedkar: Writings and Speeches when BJP’s Thawar Chand Gehlot was minister,” Gautam said