Delhi Social Welfare Minister Rajendra Pal Gautam has resigned after the row over the conversion event he attended.
Gautam purportedly denounced Hindu deities at a religious conversion programme. The viral video of the event held in the national capital recently has come under criticism by the BJP.
Soon after resigning, Gautam addressed media persons and attacked the BJP saying it insulted him and his party.
In the viral video, Gautam was seen along with hundreds of people taking an oath. Purportedly, the person on the microphone leads the oath with,” ‘We will not believe in Brahma, Vishnu, Mahesh, Gauri-Ganesh as Gods and will never pray to them. I will not consider Ram and Krishna as Gods and will never… I will not pray to Gauri Ganpati etc or any other Hindu religious Gods and goddesses”.
This video of organizing ‘Ghar Wapsi in Buddhism’ program in Delhi on October 5 under the banner of ‘Mission Jai Bhim’ was shared on Rajendra Pal Gautam’s Facebook page.The AAP minister also claimed that the same oath was taken by Babasaheb Ambedkar, when he converted to Buddhism and said, “We have repeated the same pledge. On October 14, 1956, when Baba Saheb adopted Buddhism, he made 22 vows, which we have also taken in the oath. Watch the full video, BJP is running it by truncating it for its own benefit. BJP will do anything but make its vote clear.”
On the allegations of sedition being levelled by BJP against the Aam Aadmi Party and Arvind Kejriwal, Minister Gautam had said, “Those who are enemies of humanity, do politics of religion, frenzy in the name of caste-religion, in real sense they are traitors.” Minister Gautam also said, “If BJP has to complain in this matter, then the Constitution of India gives us freedom as to which religion and which faith we follow. If they want to sue, get them done, they can, they can make false cases, they can put them in jail. We are ready for that.”