Rajendra Pal Gautam (3rd from left) is seen at the ‘Deeksha Samaroh’ held in Delhi repeating the vows with close to 10,000 people who accepted Buddhism. (Twitter/@AdvRajendraPal)Written by Nagendar Sharma
There are a few interesting firsts in Rajendra Pal Gautam’s exit from the Delhi cabinet. He is the first minister of the AAP in Delhi to have gone out for purely political reasons in around eight years — four others who were ousted earlier since 2015 as ministers were axed either on corruption charges or on account of moral turpitude. One of the sackings was apparently due to internal differences.
Another interesting first is that Gautam is the first AAP minister who put out his own resignation in the public domain and followed it up with statements saying he did not wish to put his party or leadership in any controversy or harm.
Gautam, a two-time MLA from Seemapuri in Northeast Delhi, wore his Ambedkarite credentials on his sleeve and despite being a trained advocate, perhaps failed to follow the Doctrine of Pleasure in politics and overlooked the importance of tokenism.
His induction into the Arvind Kejriwal cabinet in 2017, like the previous Sheila Dikshit and BJP governments in Delhi between 1993 and 2013, was a case of symbolic Dalit representation in the city-state. Gautam was sworn-in months after another Dalit minister, Sandeep Kumar, was sacked, following a followed video allegedly showing him in a compromising position.
In two tenures, first between June 2017 till the February 2020 elections, and then in its second innings from February 2020 till his exit on Sunday, Gautam consistently kept losing portfolios but continued as a minister.
The storm in the media and vociferous attack by the BJP about his presence on stage on October 5 during a ceremony where thousands converted to Buddhism, claimed his scalp. Gautam has said that he has been attending this programme for years, where the participants take the same oath that B R Ambedkar had taken while converting to Buddhism nearly seven decades ago. So, what was different this year?
Gautam’s party has not offered a single comment on the issue so far. Source-based news flashes on Friday that Delhi Chief Minister is “extremely upset” with Gautam, were followed by his apology that night, saying that he meant no disrespect to any religion.
However, it was only earlier this year that the AAP state governments in Delhi and Punjab decided to put up the photos of Shaheed Bhagat Singh and the late Dr BR Ambedkar in all government offices. This was generally received well and there was no criticism, but a few months down the line, it appears that between symbolism and harsh electoral politics, it is the latter that really matters.
The dates for the Gujarat Assembly elections are likely to be announced any time now and the AAP does not want to give BJP any reason to attack it. Every party has the right to formulate its own political strategy: From what has appeared in the public domain so far, the AAP did not want anything to disturb its Gujarat campaign and the conversion issue could have hit it hard.
Having said that, one must not forget that earlier this year, during the Punjab elections when Congress and the BJP latched on to former AAP leader Kumar Vishwas’s vitriolic allegation that the party had sought the support of Khalistanis during the 2017 elections, the AAP held its ground and challenged both parties to prove their allegations.
A few months later, the same party that swears by Ambedkar has chosen to sacrifice a minister, who, according to facts so far in the public domain, does not appear to have stated anything against any particular religion, nor seems to have done anything against the law. On the contrary, videos of a BJP Lok Sabha MP from Delhi openly exhorting a gathering to boycott Muslims have escaped any uproar or legal action. Ironically, BJP leaders went to the police seeking an FIR against Gautam, for an alleged offence which, perhaps, the Delhi Police will have to identify.
I have already mentioned that Gautam’s party is silent on his issue and he has been left to speak for himself, an indication of how ruthless electoral politics remains.
Several influential voices have spoken out in favour of Gautam and the apparent injustice against him. An unsolved riddle so far is why the BJP’s attack on Gautam was not countered by his party as an insult to Dalits. Particularly when one of the AAP-ruled states – Punjab – has one of the highest Dalit populations in the country and even in a 70-member Delhi Assembly, the number of Dalit MLAs is 12 – more than 17 per cent.
Assuming Gujarat is weighing heavily on the AAP leadership’s minds, could it not have mounted an effective counter and questioned BJP on the Dalit issue?
Answers still awaited.
The writer has formerly worked with BBC and HT. He was the Delhi CM’s media advisor between 2014-Jan 2020. He is currently executive editor of http://www.earshot.in