On November 4, 2001, Delhi witnessed one of many largest mass conversions of Dalits to Buddhism in modern historical past. It created a splash, and drew the eye and the hearth of right-wing outfits such because the VHP, which petitioned the BJP-led NDA authorities to get the occasion cancelled. It was ultimately denied permission for Ramlila Maidan and was held at Delhi’s Ambedkar Bhavan.
On the coronary heart of the occasion was Ram Raj, an Indian Income Service officer from Uttar Pradesh, who had shot to limelight with the creation of the All India Confederation of SC/ST Organisations to oppose perceived makes an attempt to dilute reservation in authorities companies within the late ’90s.
He adopted the identify ‘Udit’ that day in 2001, earlier than embracing Buddhism alongside along with his spouse Seema, additionally an IRS officer, and two kids.
Within the interval since, Udit Raj has modified a number of political companions however by no means left the headlines, usually attributable to his provocative statements, totally on the caste system. The most recent being his assertion concerning President Droupadi Murmu after she famous that since Gujarat produces greater than 70% of India’s salt, “it may be stated that sabhi deshwasi Gujarat ka namak khaate hain (technically that means all Indians eat Gujarat’s salt however implying in its Hindi idiom that the nation owes a debt of gratitude to the state)”.
My assertion as regard to Draupadi Murmuji is mine & nothing to do with Congress.Her candidature & marketing campaign had been within the identify adivasi, it doesn’t imply she is not adivasi. My coronary heart cries that when SC/ST attain to increased place, they ditch their communities & grow to be mum.
— Dr. Udit Raj (@Dr_Uditraj) October 6, 2022
Raj, who’s now within the Congress, tweeted, “No county ought to get a President like Droupadi Murmu. Chamchagiri (sycophancy) additionally has its limits. She says 70 per cent individuals of the nation eat Gujarat’s salt. For those who survive on salt your self, you’ll know.”
The BJP accused Raj of demeaning the standing of the President, who’s the primary from the tribal neighborhood to carry the put up. Raj subsequently issued a clarification, distancing the Congress from his remarks. “My assertion as regard to Droupadi Murmuji is mine and nothing to do with Congress. Her candidature and marketing campaign had been within the identify adivasi, it doesn’t imply she is not adivasi. My coronary heart cries when SC/ST attain increased place, they ditch their communities and grow to be mum,” he tweeted.
If there’s one factor Raj, 64, swears by, it’s this devotion to the “trigger”. On the November 2001 conversion occasion, he had declared: “This second is historic as 1000’s have determined to resign the centuries-old Brahminical system… We’ve got lastly been ‘liberated’ from the clutches of the caste system.”
Raj had stopped wanting asserting a proper plunge into politics. That second got here two years later, in November 2003, when he give up the IRS, whereas serving as an extra earnings tax commissioner, and launched the ‘Indian Justice Social gathering (IJP)’, banking on his attraction amongst reserved class authorities workers because the nationwide chairman of the All India Confederation of SC/ST Organisations, a put up which he continued to carry.
Within the 2012 Meeting elections in Uttar Pradesh, the IJP fielded as many as 150 candidates. Electoral success proved elusive, and all its candidates misplaced their deposits. Finally, the IJP merged with the BJP in 2014, on the top of the Narendra Modi wave.
Between 2014 and 2019, Raj represented the BJP in Parliament because the MP from Northeast Delhi, profitable the seat by an enormous 1.06 lakh votes towards the Aam Aadmi Social gathering’s Rakhi Birla.
Nonetheless, he quickly turned essential of the BJP once more, admonishing it over the assault towards Dalits in Gujarat’s Una in 2016 and the violence within the wake of the protests towards amendments within the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities Act) following a Supreme Court docket order.
In April 2019, inside 24 hours of the BJP naming Hans Raj Hans as its candidate from Northeast Delhi within the coming Lok Sabha polls, Raj joined the Congress. The social gathering made him chairman of its Unorganised Employees and Workers wing.
Belonging to Ram Nagar village close to Allahabad, Raj did his increased research from Jawaharlal Nehru College and Osmania College, and obtained initiated into pupil politics as a part of the College students’ Federation of India within the early ’80s. In 1988, he joined the IRS and steadily rose within the ranks.
मेरा बयान द्रोपदी मुर्मू जी के लिए निजी है,कांग्रेस पार्टी का नही है। pic.twitter.com/PnUTMR08zg
— Dr. Udit Raj (@Dr_Uditraj) October 6, 2022
In 1997, he based the All India Confederation of SC/ST Organisations, mobilising individuals towards alleged anti-reservation insurance policies of the Division of Division of Personnel and Coaching (DoPT).
Whereas the BSP would have been thought of his pure house – founder Kanshi Ram additionally first ventured into politics main an organisation of presidency workers – the social gathering and Raj have by no means seen eye to eye. The BSP had been among the many events against the 2001 conversion occasion of Raj.
Through the years, Raj has criticised a number of BSP insurance policies, accusing it of indulging in corruption and serving solely the pursuits of the Jatav neighborhood. Himself a Khatik, Raj had as soon as even tried to deliver non-BSP Dalit organisations beneath one umbrella as a part of the Nationwide Dalit Platform, which he led together with former Union minister and late Lok Janshakti Social gathering founder Ram Vilas Paswan.
There’s one other chief within the political sphere whose profession parallels Raj’s: Arvind Kejriwal, who too was within the IRS earlier than turning into an activist after which a politician. Raj was a part of the controversy on the necessity for a Lokpal together with Kejriwal, however differed on the India Towards Corruption motion solid by Kejriwal with Anna Hazare.
Raj wished the inclusion of Dalits, backwards and minorities within the proposed Lokpal Committee, together with some others. The Lokpal and Lokayukta Act of 2013 ultimately included the supply that “not lower than fifty per cent” of the physique “shall be from amongst the individuals belonging to the Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes, Different Backward Lessons, Minorities and girls”.
Now, a few years later, Raj’s and Kejriwal’s paths have crossed once more, in a method. One among AAP’s ministers now finds himself on the receiving finish of BJP fireplace over remarks made at a conversion occasion just like the one hosted by Udit Raj on that day in 2001.