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Rajendra Pal Gautam

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Rajendra Pal Gautam
Cabinet Minister, Government of Delhi
In office
14 February 2015 – 19 October 2022
Lieutenant GovernorNajeeb Jung
Anil Baijal
Vinai Kumar Saxena
CabinetKejriwal ministry - II Kejriwal ministry - III
Chief MinisterArvind Kejriwal
Ministry and Departments
  • Social welfare
  • SC & ST
  • Cooperative
  • Gurudwara Elections
  • Women & Child
Preceded byPresident's rule
Succeeded byRaaj Kumar Anand
Member of the Delhi Legislative Assembly
Assumed office
10 February 2015
Preceded byDharmender Singh
ConstituencySeemapuri
Personal details
Born (1968-04-26) 26 April 1968 (age 56)
Delhi, India
Nationality Indian
Political partyAam Aadmi Party
SpouseSushila Devi
Children2
ParentDalip Singh (father)
ResidenceNew Delhi
Alma materDelhi University
Occupationpolitician and social activis
ProfessionAdvocate
CabinetKejriwal ministry - II, Kejriwal ministry - III

Rajendra Pal Gautam is an Indian politician, Dalit activist, Social worker and the former Minister for Water, Tourist, Culture, Arts & Languages and Gurudwara Elections in the Government of Delhi. He is a member of the Aam Aadmi Party and represents Seemapuri Assembly constituency in the Delhi Legislative Assembly.[1][2]

Early life and education

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Gautam was born in Delhi. He holds an LL.B. degree from Delhi University and is an advocate by profession.[3] He is an Ambedkarite and Buddhist activist.[4][5][6][7][8]

Political career

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In 2014, he became a member of the Aam Aadmi Party.[9] Gautam's term as an MLA in the Sixth Legislative Assembly of Delhi was his first. He defeated Karamvir of the Bharatiya Janata Party by a margin of 48,821 votes in the 2015 elections.[10] He was re-elected in the 2020 Delhi Legislative Assembly election.

Cabinet Minister, Delhi

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He was a cabinet minister in the Third Kejriwal ministry since 14 February 2015 and held the charge of below listed departments of the Delhi Government.

  • Social welfare
  • SC & ST
  • Cooperative
  • Gurudwara Elections
  • Women & Child

Jai Bheem Mukhyamantri Pratiba Vikas Yojana

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As minister, Gautam held the charge of social welfare department in the Second Kejriwal ministry. Under his charge Jai Bheem Mukhyamantri Pratiba Vikas Yojana was started. Indian Express noted it as one of Arvind Kejriwal government's most ambitious programmes. In this program, free coaching is provided to children from the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes to prepare them for IIT JEE, NEET and other competitive exams. When the program started about 4,900 students enrolled for the free coaching classes. in 2022, around 15,000 are enrolled in various courses under this scheme.[9]

Controversy

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In May 2020, he was criticised by the Indian Army for sharing a video curated and circulated by enemy agents.[11][12][13] He later took the video down.[11][14]

Social activism

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He taught about 450 children from poor families and worked on reducing addiction among the youth. He worked for upliftment and rights of Dalits. He was awarded the Samata Sainik Dal's Dr Ambedkar Award in 2017.[9]

He operated a Non-governmental organization (NGO) called Partivartan and as of 2022 he runs the organisation, 'Mission Jai Bhim'.[9] Gautam is the founder of the organisation, Mission Jai Bhim.[15]

Resigned from the post of cabinet minister

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On 5 October 2022, Buddhist Society of India and Mission Jai Bhim jointly organized an event[16] at Dr. Ambedkar Bhawan Rani Jhansi Road. Gautam attended the event and later said that in the event "more than 10,000 people pledged to join Buddhism and work for making India free from casteism and untouchability."[15] During the event, while Gautam was on stage, the attendees repeated Twenty-two vows that B. R. Ambedkar had administered to his followers. Among other vows it included a vow that they would not pray to Hindu gods and goddesses.[9] The 22-point pledge was first made in 1956 by Dr B. R. Ambedkar when he renounced Hinduism and converted to Buddhism. Since then such events have been organised regularly, where people who are mainly from the oppressed castes, recite the 22 vows and embrace Buddhism.[17][18]

Indian Express reported that 66 years after the twenty-two vows of Ambedkar were first made, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders chose to suddenly take offence to the vows. It was reported that there were no derogatory words for Hindu gods and goddesses in the pledge, but it simply asserts that the speaker shall not worship them. The BJP leaders criticised Gautam for his speech and made legal complaints against him.[17] BJP attacked AAP, AAP president Arvind Kejriwal and Gautam during the campaign for 2022 Gujarat Legislative Assembly election.[19]

Gautam responded saying that BJP was spreading rumours about him and said, "If I believe in Buddhism, what is wrong with that? If the BJP has to complain, they can. The Constitution of India gives us the freedom to follow any religion. The BJP is losing ground and it is afraid of the Aam Aadmi Party. They can only lodge fake cases against us". He said, "I am a very religious person. I personally respect all the gods and goddesses and can never even dream of insulting the deities by my actions or words. I did not say any word towards anyone's faith, I respect everyone's faith. In my speech, I spoke on education, health, employment, inflation and social equality. But then BJP people are spreading false rumors about me. I am deeply hurt by this act of BJP people and I apologize with folded hands to all those people who have been hurt in any way due to this propaganda of BJP".[20]

On 9 October 2022, he resigned from the post of cabinet minister.[21] AAP has not officially responded to the event. He said in his resignation letter that he had noticed that the BJP had been targeting Arvind Kejriwal and the AAP for Gautam's participation in the event. He said that those attacks had saddened him. He said, "I will continue to work for the party to strengthen India and will follow the teachings of Babasaheb Ambedkar all my life. The BJP has a problem with me following the teaching of Babasaheb Ambedkar and is using this to play dirty politics… I do not wish that due to me my leader Mr. Kejriwal and my party are harmed in anyway."[22][23][24]

On 10 October 2022, Gautam, shared a video that reportedly showed some Upper caste men beating a Dalit man. Gautam called Narendra Modi "a weak PM" and demanded his resignation and resignation of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath over the incidents. He said, "Stop these casteist shoddy acts Narendra Modi ji. Otherwise you resign. Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh is a complete failure in handling law and order. I know that you are such a weak Prime Minister that you can't even take resignation from him! You don't worry, my Bahujan Samaj will answer".[19]

Electoral performance

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This section is transcluded from Seemapuri Assembly constituency. (edit | history)
2015 Delhi Legislative Assembly election: Seemapuri
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
AAP Rajendra Pal Gautam 79,777 63.04 +25.28
BJP Karamvir 30,956 24.46 +3.17
INC Veer Singh Dhingan 10,674 8.44 −18.85
BSP Jai Shree 4,103 3.24 −7.69
NOTA None 499 0.39 −0.24
Majority 48,821 38.58 +28.11
Turnout 1,26,640 73.29
AAP hold Swing +25.28
2020 Delhi Legislative Assembly election: Seemapuri
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
AAP Rajendra Pal Gautam 88,392 65.82 +2.78
LJP Sant Lal 32,284 24.04
INC Veer Singh Dhingan 7,661 5.70 −2.74
NOTA None of the above 1,002 0.75 +0.36
Majority 56,108 41.78 +3.20
Turnout 1,34,437 68.48 −4.81
AAP hold Swing +2.78

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Election result". Election commission of India. Archived from the original on 27 February 2015. Retrieved 10 February 2015.
  2. ^ "Cabinet Ministers". delhi.gov.in. Retrieved 25 June 2017.
  3. ^ "Brief profile". myneta.info. Retrieved 12 February 2015.
  4. ^ "Misinformation being spread, not pulling down Ambedkar statue: AAP".
  5. ^ "B R Ambedkar was instrumental in shaping legal rights of women in India". 6 December 2019.
  6. ^ "In the Name of God & Martyrs of Freedom Struggle: Kejriwal's Ministers Take Oath in different Ways". 16 February 2020.
  7. ^ "Committed to values of Ambedkar, will not pull down his statue: AAP minister".
  8. ^ "Kejriwal's ministers go by their choice, take oath in different ways". The Economic Times.
  9. ^ a b c d e "Who is Rajendra Pal Gautam, AAP minister in eye of storm?". The Indian Express. 7 October 2022. Retrieved 9 October 2022.
  10. ^ "Comprehensive Election results". Election Commission of India website. Retrieved 12 February 2015.
  11. ^ a b "Army 'strongly condemns' tweeting of 'curated' video".
  12. ^ "Rajendra Pal Gautam on Twitter: "एक तरफ राष्ट्रवाद और सैनिक सम्मान दू…". Archived from the original on 11 May 2020.
  13. ^ "Delhi Minister Shares Pakistani Propaganda Video Against Indian Army". 11 May 2020. Archived from the original on 2 December 2021. Retrieved 11 May 2020.
  14. ^ @AdvRajendraPal (11 May 2020). "इस ट्वीट को डिलीट किया जा चुका है, इसी निवेदन के साथ की ऐसी किसी भी घटना के सामने आने पर सरकार और संबंधित लोग तुरंत…" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  15. ^ a b "Gautam lands in conversion controversy". The Pioneer. 8 October 2022. Retrieved 8 October 2022.
  16. ^ "विवादित बयान के बाद राजेंद्र पाल गौतम का इस्तीफा, आजतक को बताई वजह". आज तक (in Hindi). 9 October 2022. Retrieved 9 October 2022.
  17. ^ a b "Ambedkar's 22 vows: Why Babasaheb made the pledge at the centre of BJP-AAP row". The Indian Express. 8 October 2022. Retrieved 9 October 2022.
  18. ^ "Delhi News Live Updates: Rajendra Pal Gautam resigns as Delhi Cabinet Minister". The Indian Express. 9 October 2022. Retrieved 9 October 2022.
  19. ^ a b "AAP leader Rajendra Pal Gautam demands resignations of Modi, Adiyanath; accuse them of failing to protect Dalits". telegraphindia.com. 10 October 2022. Retrieved 10 October 2022.
  20. ^ "I respect all gods, goddesses: Gautam". The Pioneer. 8 October 2022. Retrieved 8 October 2022.
  21. ^ "Delhi minister Rajendra Pal Gautam resigns after row over oath at Buddhism event". Hindustan Times. 9 October 2022. Retrieved 9 October 2022.
  22. ^ Bureau, The Hindu (9 October 2022). "Delhi Minister Rajendra Pal Gautam resigns after controversy over religious conversion event". The Hindu. Retrieved 9 October 2022. {{cite news}}: |last1= has generic name (help)
  23. ^ "Delhi AAP Minister Resigns After Row Over Presence At Conversion Event". NDTV.com. 10 October 2022. Retrieved 10 October 2022.
  24. ^ "Rajendra Pal Gautam interview: 'Spoke to Deputy CM, told him — don't want allegations levelled against CM Kejriwal'". The Indian Express. 12 October 2022. Retrieved 12 October 2022.
State Legislative Assembly
Preceded by Member of the Delhi Legislative Assembly
from Seemapuri Assembly constituency
2020– 		Incumbent
Aam Aadmi Party political offices
Preceded by
-
 Member of National Executive Committee
Aam Aadmi Party
– present 		Incumbent
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