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 The Government of Delhi, officially the Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (GNCTD) is the governing body of the Union Territory of Delhi, whose urban area is the seat of the Government of India. It also governs the city or l ...

. He is a member of the

Aam Aadmi Party The Aam Aadmi Party (; AAP) is a political party in India, as one of the national political parties. The AAP was founded in November 2012 by Arvind Kejriwal and his then-companions following the 2011 Indian anti-corruption movement, popular ...

and represents Seemapuri Assembly constituency in the

Delhi Legislative Assembly The Delhi Legislative Assembly, also known as the Delhi Vidhan Sabha, is a unicameral legislature of the union territory of Delhi in India. Delhi Legislative Assembly is the legislative arm of the Government of Delhi. At present, it consists o ...

Early life and education

Gautam was born in

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...

. He holds an

LL.B. Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Chi ...

degree from

Delhi University Delhi University (DU), formally the University of Delhi, is a collegiate university, collegiate Central university (India), central university located in New Delhi, India. It was founded in 1922 by an Act of the Central Legislative Assembly and ...

and is an

advocate An advocate is a professional in the field of law. Different countries' legal systems use the term with somewhat differing meanings. The broad equivalent in many English law–based jurisdictions could be a barrister or a solicitor. However, ...

by profession. He is an

Ambedkarite Ambedkarism is called as the teaching, ideology or philosophy of B.R. Ambedkar, an Indian econonist, polymath, barrister, social reformer, human-rights advocate, and the architect of Indian Constitution. Ambedkarism includes the principles of Nava ...

and

Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

activist.

Political career

In 2014, he became a member of the

. Gautam's term as an MLA in the

Sixth Legislative Assembly of Delhi The Sixth Legislative Assembly of Delhi was constituted on 14th Feb 2015 after the 2015 Delhi Legislative Assembly elections were concluded earlier that month. Second Kejriwal ministry was the cabinet during the term of 6th Delhi Assembly. H ...

was his first. He defeated Karamvir of the

Bharatiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under Narendra Modi ...

by a margin of 48,821 votes in the

2015 elections The following elections were scheduled to occur in the year 2015. Africa * 2015 Beninese parliamentary election 26 April 2015 * 2015 Burkinabé general election 29 November 2015 * 2015 Burundian legislative election 29 June 2015 * 2015 Burun ...

. He was re-elected in the

2020 Delhi Legislative Assembly election Legislative Assembly elections were held in Delhi on 8 February 2020 to elect 70 members of the Delhi Legislative Assembly. Voters turnout was recorded at 62.82%, a decline of 4.65% from the previous assembly election in Delhi but 2.2% more th ...

Cabinet Minister, Delhi

He was a cabinet minister in the

Third Kejriwal ministry The Third Kejriwal cabinet is the Council of Ministers in Delhi Legislative Assembly headed by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. It was formed after the results of the 2020 Delhi Legislative Assembly election were declared. History In August 202 ...

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

As minister, Gautam held the charge of social welfare department in the

Second Kejriwal ministry The Second Kejriwal cabinet is the Council of Minister in Delhi Legislative Assembly headed by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. Chief Minister & Cabinet Ministers Here is the list of ministers: Former Members Major work Mohalla Clin ...

. Under his charge Jai Bheem Mukhyamantri Pratiba Vikas Yojana was started. ''

Indian Express ''The Indian Express'' is an English-language Indian daily newspaper founded in 1932. It is published in Mumbai by the Indian Express Group. In 1999, eight years after the group's founder Ramnath Goenka's death in 1991, the group was split betw ...

'' 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.

Controversy

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

Social activism

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. He operated a

Non-governmental organization A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in h ...

(NGO) called Partivartan and as of 2022 he runs the organisation, 'Mission Jai Bhim'. Gautam is the founder of the organisation, Mission Jai Bhim.

Resigned from the post of cabinet minister

On 5 October 2022,

Buddhist Society of India The Buddhist Society of India, known as the Bharatiya Bauddha Mahasabha, is a national Buddhist organization in India. It was founded by B. R. Ambedkar on 4 May 1955 in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. Ambedkar was the father of the Constitution of In ...

and Mission Jai Bhim jointly organized an event 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." 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. The 22-point pledge was first made in 1956 by Dr

B. R. Ambedkar Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar (14 April 1891 – 6 December 1956) was an Indian jurist, economist, social reformer and political leader who headed the committee drafting the Constitution of India from the Constituent Assembly debates, served a ...

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. ''

'' reported that 66 years after the twenty-two vows of Ambedkar were first made,

(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. BJP attacked AAP, AAP president

Arvind Kejriwal Arvind Kejriwal (Hindi: �ɾʋin̪d̪ ked͡ʒɾiːʋaːl born 16 August 1968) is an Indian politician, former bureaucrat, and activist who is the 7th and current Chief Minister of Delhi since February 2015. Currently, he is the national conv ...

and Gautam during the campaign for

2022 Gujarat Legislative Assembly election Legislative Assembly election was held in Gujarat from 1 to 5 December 2022 in two phases, to elect 182 members of 15th Gujarat Legislative Assembly. The votes were counted and the results were declared on 8 December 2022. The Bharatiya Jana ...

. 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". On 9 October 2022, he resigned from the post of cabinet minister. 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." 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".

Electoral performance

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gautam, Rajendra Pal Politicians from New Delhi Delhi MLAs 2015–2020 Delhi MLAs 2020–2025 Living people 1968 births Aam Aadmi Party MLAs from Delhi Indian Buddhists Indian activists 20th-century Buddhists 21st-century Buddhists Buddhist activists 20th-century Indian lawyers 21st-century Indian lawyers