New Delhi: The year was 2016 and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) had won 67 out of 70 seats in the Delhi Assembly elections last year. This was when Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal inducted Rajendra Pal Gautam, the first-time MLA from Seemapuri, in his cabinet.
While Gautam, 54, was not AAP’s first choice as the ‘Dalit face’ of the Kejriwal cabinet, he managed to handle several portfolios including social welfare and SC and ST welfare – all while maintaining a low-profile.
Gautam, a member of AAP’s national executive, on Sunday resigned as a minister in the Delhi government after his presence at an event in Karol Bagh last week triggered a political controversy.
On October 5, a video surfaced of Gautam attending the event, where he was accompanied by Ambedkar’s great-grandson Rajratna Ambedkar.22 pledgeAmbedkar determined his followers at an event in Nagpur in 1956 after converting from Hinduism to Buddhism.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Guilty Gautam allegedly “condemned Hinduism” by taking an oath of “boycott” of Hindu deities and demanded their resignation. Delhi BJP leaders also accused AAP of “hurting religious sentiments of Hindus”.
in that ResignationGautam wrote that he had attended the event in his personal capacity and not as an AAP member or minister. He also accused the BJP of doing “dirty politics” over the issue, saying he decided to step down keeping in mind the best interests of his party.
“Over the years, he [Gautam] Have attended many such events across India, but it has never been a political issue.
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‘Radical Ambedkarite’
A lawyer by profession, Gautam is known in his inner circle as a Dalit rights activist, a staunch Ambedkarite and an avid reader. The two-time legislator is a Buddhist and is the founder of the NGO ‘Mission Jai Bheem’, which helped organize the October 5 event.
The AAP leader mentioned earlier, “Mr Gautam is a staunch Ambedkarite,” adding that the former minister has several bookshelves dedicated only to Ambedkar’s writings at his residence.
Gautam, who won from A gap Out of 48,821 votes in 2015, he not only retained the Seemapuri seat – located in the northeastern periphery of Delhi – in 2020, but also increased his victory margin to 56,108.
Unlike most of AAP’s top leadership, Gautam was not a part of the 2011 India Against Corruption (IAC) movement and joined the party only in 2014. He won the assembly elections the following year and was inducted into the Kejriwal cabinet in 2016. Social Welfare, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Welfare, Gurdwara Election and Registrar of Co-operative Societies.
There are seven ministerial posts in the Delhi cabinet, out of which one is reserved for persons belonging to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
However, Gautam was not Arvind Kejriwal’s first choice.
After AAP’s thumping victory in 2015, Kejriwal selected Sandeep Kumar for a reserved cabinet berth, giving him charge of portfolios including social welfare, SC/ST welfare and women and child development. Kumar, unlike Gautam, had known Kejriwal since IAC days, the MLA from Sultanpur Majra one after the other was not in favor of the AAP leadership. controversial video His case came to the fore in August 2016.
The next choice for the minister’s post was Rakhi Birla, who had been associated with the AAP leadership since Anna’s time. [Hazare] Movement day. But before that in the same year, he was made Delhi Deputy Speaker. boss [Kejriwal] Then decided to give Rajendra Pal Gautam a chance and he performed really well in the departments given to him,” said a senior AAP leader.
‘Your Property’
In 2019, Gautam became the main force behind one of the major projects of the AAP government in Delhi – the Jai Bhim Chief Minister Pratibha Vikas Yojana, Plan Essentially a scholarship for students from marginalized backgrounds, to help them enroll in leading coaching centers to prepare for a wide range of competitive exams related to the fields of medicine and engineering.
Another senior AAP functionary from Delhi, who did not wish to be named, said Gautam has “leadership qualities” as well as “very good relations with Dalit groups and civil rights groups across India”.
“As such, he is an asset because more than 20 per cent of Delhi’s population is from the Dalit community. He played an active role during election campaigns in Delhi as well as in other states including Punjab, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh,” the activist told ThePrint.
The AAP won the Punjab elections in March, but failed to win a single seat in either Uttarakhand or Uttar Pradesh. The party is now working to expand its footprint in the electoral states of Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh.
With Gautam’s resignation, the AAP is now grappling with the question of whether his exit from the cabinet could hurt the party’s electoral prospects among Dalit voters in the poll-bound states.
“We have assessed such scenarios in the past while keeping a safe distance from religious issues. Our idea is to create a separate space which is based on development, welfare, jobs, better life etc. This is what we think primarily matters to the people,” said another senior AAP leader.
(Edited by Amritansh Arora)
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