The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are at loggerheads again after a video of AAP minister Rajendra Pal Gautam denouncing Hindu deities at a public mass religious conversion event went viral.
Gautam was present at a mass conversion event, called Dhamma Chakra Pravartan Din. The yearly event marks Dalit leader and Drafting Committee chairman Dr BR Ambedkar’s conversion to Buddhism in October 1956. It is worth noting that Dr Ambedkar converted out of Hinduism as he believed the religion to be discriminatory owing to its caste based system.
The AAP Minister, among a thousand others at the event, can be heard taking an oath, saying, “I shall have no faith in Brahma, Vishnu and Maheshwara, nor shall I worship them”.
The BJP condemned the participation of the AAP minister and said that the move by Gautam was insulting to Hinduism and Buddhism.
“AAP ministers are attempting to incite riots. The minister should immediately be removed from the party. We’re submitting a complaint against him,” BJP MP Manoj Tiwari said.
The BJP’s Delhi unit tweeted the video, accusing the AAP minister of “spewing venom” against Hindus.
“See how Kejriwal’s minister is spewing venom against Hindus. The anti-Hindu face of the electoral Hindu Kejriwal and AAP has come in front of everyone. The public will soon give a befitting reply to the anti-Hindu AAP. Shame on you, Kejriwal,” it tweeted.
“BJP is anti-national. I have faith in Buddhism, why does anyone have trouble with it? Let them complain. The constitution gives us the freedom to follow any religion. BJP is afraid of AAP. They can only lodge fake cases against us,” Gautam said on his end.
“Those who do caste based politics are traitors, they don’t have any other agenda. They think they have exclusive rights over a religion. They are asking why AAP workers go to temples. Well, those who have faith will go. I have faith in Buddhism, I will go there. No one can force me to follow a religion,” he added.
The event was conducted by Gautam’s organisation the Jai Bheem Mission where nearly 7000 people, mostly Dalits, embraced Buddhism.
