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Journalism of Courage
As minister in the Arvind Kejriwal government in Delhi, Rajendra Pal Gautam was known to keep a low profile. Days into his resignation, following a BJP-stirred controversy over a conversion ceremony to Buddhism where he was present, Gautam has started coming into his own.
On Friday, nearly 3,000 people from about 20 Dalit and Bahujan organisations across the country gathered for a meeting addressed by Gautam, where he said he had done “nothing wrong” at the October 5 event and vowed to continue his “fight”. Participants at the gathering expressed their anger at AAP’s “treatment of Gautam” and warned that it might boomerang on the party.
Gautam resigned as social welfare minister, apart from his other portfolios, after the BJP questioned the renunciation of Hindu gods and goddesses at the October 5 conversion event, by him and others. The renunciation was part of the 22 oaths prescribed by B R Ambedkar for conversion to Buddhism, when he did so in 1956.
Gautam has maintained that he resigned on his own, so as to avoid embarrassment for AAP amidst elections. The party, which saw posters come up in Gujarat projecting Kejriwal as anti-Hindu after the October 5 event, has not issued any official statement on Gautam.
All that played on the mind of the participants who turned up at Gautam’s call for a ‘Jati Unmolam Ekta Sankalp Yatra (Caste Abolition Unity Resolve Yatra)’ on October 14, taken out from Raj Niwas to Ambedkar National Memorial in Delhi.
There were people from across the country, including Delhi-NCR, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and faraway states such as Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Tamil Nadu. The padyatra was organised by Gautam under his own organisation, ‘Mission Jai Bhim’.
Addressing the meeting, Gautam said: “I don’t think I did anything wrong in taking the 22 pledges by B R Ambedkar. I am an Ambedkarite and a follower of the Buddha dharma, and I don’t think following Buddhism is wrong. This fight is against all the crimes taking place against the Dalits and minorities due to casteism. This fight will continue across the nation.”
Among those at the meeting was Sneha, a 20-year-old graduate from Telangana. “I came along with my parents. We are here for Gautamji. Dalit leaders who work hard and have taken a stand for the community have always been stopped from growing. But we are happy that at least there is a leader who has taken a stand for us, and for that, he will get support. I will go and tell my entire community about him and extend our full support,” she said.
Ravi Sood, a resident of Mukherjee Nagar in Delhi, said that as a Scheduled Caste member, “we face a lot of discrimination, right from school to the workplace. Dalits start hiding their identity because of being called words like ‘Chooda’. But Gautamji’s move has inspired us. The way he resigned and is now launching a mission to work for the Dalit samaj has given us hope that now we don’t need to hide our identity. If I am a Chamar, I am a Chamar, and I am proud of myself,” Sood said.
The MP of the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (a Tamil Dalit party), Thol Thirumavalavan, from Tamil Nadu also joined the padyatra. “I extend our support to the effort by Rajendra Pal to strengthen Buddhism in India and annihilate the caste system and Varna Ashram. He quit as AAP minister. I appreciate him for this historical and bold decision.”
A senior leader from the Samata Sainik Dal (SSD), a social organisation founded by Ambedkar in 1924, said there was anger against AAP. Gautam was a member of the SSD before joining AAP, and he is currently in Nagpur, participating in an event organised by the SSD.
“The padyatra was initially planned against AAP and Chief Minister Kejriwal. Despite no fault of Gautam, Kejriwal did not take any stand. The CM has put a life-size portrait of B R Ambedkar at his house and says his party runs on the principles of Ambedkar and Bhagat Singh. We used to believe him and thought he was an aam aadmi like us. But he also in the end showed his politician face, just to gain Hindu votes in the Gujarat elections. But, he will pay for his silence in the coming polls,” the SSD leader said.
Several Dalit organisations present at the meeting said apart from protesting against castism and supporting Gautam, they might hold a mega protest against all parties, including AAP. “Today, we showed the strength of the Bahujan Samaj… Soon, a protest will be held against all the parties. The protest and Kejriwal’s silence over the entire incident will reflect in the votes he gets,” said an SSD member.
Some groups claimed the Dalit votes in Gujarat as well as the coming municipal elections in Delhi may shift to the Bahujan Samaj Party.
In the two weeks since the controversy broke out, the former minister has also stepped up his presence on social media. He tweeted about his Nagpur visit, which referred to him as “mentor and Bahujan Samaj leader”, and thanked the SSD for hosting him, while attacking the BJP.
AAP has maintained silence on Gautam’s padyatra and meeting as well. Party leaders did not respond to efforts by The Indian Express to reach them.
