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Conversion oath row: Banners calling Kejriwal ‘anti-Hindu’ surface in Gujarat
Around 10,000 people reportedly took vows to follow Lord Buddha's teachings and give up worship of Hindu deities during a religious conversion event in Delhi earlier this week.
The controversy surrounding an AAP leader’s presence at a “mass religious conversion” event earlier this week in Delhi spilled over to the intense poll campaign in Gujarat in the run-up to the assembly elections. Banners and posters terming Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal “anti-Hindu” and showing him wearing a skull cap were put up in several cities across Gujarat on Saturday ahead of the AAP chief's rally in the poll-bound state, reported PTI.
Along with pictures of Kejriwal in a skull cap, some banners carried lines like "I consider Hindu religion as madness", while some others had "anti-Hindu Kejriwal go back" messages. Some of the posters, attributing the quotes to Kejriwal, read, “I do not consider Brahma, Vishnu, Mahesh, Rama, Krishna to be God.”
According to the PTI report, all the banners had a common sentence - "These are the words and culture of AAP."
The banners surfaced in Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Surat and Vadodara, a day after a video clip showing Delhi minister Rajendra Pal Gautam at a "religious conversion" event where hundreds could be heard taking an oath denouncing Hindu deities went viral on social media. On Wednesday, Gautam, who holds the social welfare, SC & ST portfolios, attended Ashoka Vijaya Dashami celebrations at Ambedkar Bhawan in Jhandewalan, where 10,000 people were supposed to embrace Buddhism.
A monk can be seen administering an oath to the crowd: “I will have no faith in Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh, nor will I worship them as God. I will have no faith in Rama or Krishna, nor will I worship them. I will have no faith in Gauri, Ganapati and other Hindu Gods, nor will I worship them.”
The oath was similar to the 22 vows prescribed by BR Ambedkar during the historic religious conversion to Buddhism at Deeksha Bhoomi, Nagpur in October 1956. Anti-caste groups commemorate the 1956 mass conversion, known as Ashoka Vijaya Dashami.
Several BJP leaders shared the video on social media accusing AAP of hurting sentiments, and demanded that the party remove the legislator from his position. The saffron party said that people will teach AAP a lesson in the upcoming Assembly elections over its Delhi minister taking oath denouncing Hindu deities.
(With PTI inputs)
