Gujarat Assembly Speaker Rajendra Trivedi on Sunday kicked off a controversy when he described Dalit icon BR Ambedkar as a Brahmin. BJP MP Udit Raj on Monday accused Gujarat Assembly Speaker Rajendra Trivedi of causing damage to the party with his remark.
Trivedi cited the Bhagavad Gita to defend his remarks. “Caste is decided by a person’s work and not his birth. A man is a Brahmin by the work he does in his life. A learned person is a Brahmin as per the Gita,” he said.
“I have no hesitation in saying that BR Ambedkar is a Brahmin. There is nothing wrong with calling a learned person a Brahmin. In that context, I will say that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is also a Brahmin,” Gujarat Assembly speaker further stated.
Slamming Trivedi for his remarks, North-West Delhi MP Udit Raj said, “The remark is unfounded, objectionable and undesirable. He (Trivedi) doesn’t realise that he is causing damage to the party with such statements.”
On Sunday, a group of Dalits in Gujarat’s Una reportedly converted to Buddhism. They claimed that they took the decision as they were not considered as Hindus and were not allowed to enter temples. Terming the mass conversion of Dalits to Buddhism as a “dangerous situation,” Udit Raj cited “social injustice” as the prime reason.
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