Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Rajkumar Bhati is once again in the news. One of his videos is viral on social media, on the basis of which it is being said that Rajkumar Bhati has converted to religion. It has been written in many social media posts that Rajkumar Bhati has left Hinduism and adopted Buddhism. Now Rajkumar Bhati has given clarification on this. He has released a video saying that he respects Buddhism a lot but neither does he need to convert nor does he have any such intention. Rajkumar Bhati says that he was born a Hindu and is still in Hindu religion. Social media posts by Rajkumar Bhati himself reveal that it was a 'huge Dhamma initiation ceremony' organized by the Indian Buddhist Council.
It can be seen in the viral video that an oath was being taken when Rajkumar Bhati was present on the stage. Rajkumar Bhati himself was also taking oath. It was being said in this oath, 'I will never consider Brahma, Vishnu, Mahesh as God, nor will I ever worship them. I will not consider Ram and Krishna as God nor will I ever worship them. I will not believe in any of the gods and goddesses of Hindu religion like Gauri-Ganpati etc. nor will I worship them. I will never believe that God has ever incarnated. I will never believe that Lord Buddha is the incarnation of Vishnu.
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Interestingly, many Buddhist followers active on social media also welcomed Rajkumar Bhati into Buddhism after this video. However, Rajkumar Bhati has denied changing religion. Let us tell you that the oath that Rajkumar Bhati was taking was a part of the initiation into Buddhism of Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar. On 14 October 1956, Dr. Ambedkar had administered the same oath to lakhs of his supporters. The last oath in this is – 'I make this sacred promise that from today onwards I will behave according to Buddhism.'
What did Rajkumar Bhati tell?
In his video, Rajkumar Bhati has said, 'Yesterday on 20th October, I was invited as the chief guest in a program of the Indian Buddhist Sabha at Ambedkar Bhawan on Rani Jhansi Road in Delhi. Being a political activist, wherever I am invited with respect, I attend programs of all religions, all castes, all communities and all classes. I also go to Gurudwara, I also attend the Majlis of Muslim brothers and also participate in Yagya-Havan and puja-recitation.
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He further said, 'I went there as a guest. There, 22 vows of Baba Saheb were also spoken by the organizers. After this program, BJP's IT cell has spread a rumor that Rajkumar Bhati had converted to religion and left Hinduism. I want to clarify that I have great affection for Buddhism. I am very attracted towards the teachings of Mahatma Buddha but neither do I see any need for religious conversion nor do I have any intention. We can serve humanity by being followers of any religion.
Taking on BJP, Rajkumar Bhati has said, 'I keep speaking against discrimination, against untouchability, against discrimination and against hypocrisy and will continue to speak. Just as I was born in Hindu religion, in the same way I exist in Hindu religion even today. I laugh a lot at those people who take Baba Saheb's name in political speeches day and night, but our presence while speaking his 22 pledges gives them stomach ache and they start spreading propaganda against us. Please do not fall prey to this kind of propaganda.