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Delhi Social Welfare Minister Rajendra Pal Gautam resigned from Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s Cabinet on Sunday, days after a video emerged showing him at an event where 10,000 people converted to Buddhism.
Taking the 22 vows of social reformer B R Ambedkar, the crowd at the event had affirmed that they would not pray to Hindu gods or goddesses. The event had come under fire from the BJP, which said Kejriwal and his party “hated” Hindus. At the time, Gautam had said that he had the right to practice his religion as guaranteed under the Constitution. Later, slamming the BJP’s move as propaganda, he had apologised to the people who were hurt by it.
In his resignation, Gautam wrote: “I had joined the programme at Ambedkar Bhawan on October 5 in my personal capacity. It had nothing to do with the AAP or my being a minister. Babasaheb’s 22 vows were also printed in the 17th volume of Ambedkar: Writings and Speeches by former BJP minister Thawar Chand Gehlot. These are repeated across the country… BJP is using these for dirty politics and I am resigning from my post as a minister because of that.”
The BJP had demanded Gautam’s resignation after the video emerged. The AAP and the Delhi government had not reacted to the event or the BJP’s demands, but party sources had said that Kejriwal was “angry” with Gautam.
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