- Udit Raj
Udit Raj (born Ram Raj on
1 January 1958 ) was born inRamnagar, Uttar Pradesh into a low caste Hindu family, and studied for BA atAllahabad University . He was selected for the Indian Revenue Service in 1988 and served as the Dy, Commissioner, Joint Commissioner and Addl. Commissioner of Income Tax atNew Delhi . On 24th November, 2007 he resigned from the government service and formed a political party namely Indian Justice Party. He is a prominent activist working on behalf of India'sDalit s, also known as untouchables. After his conversion toBuddhism on November 4, 2001, he changed his name, following the tradition of Dalit intellectual and activistB. R. Ambedkar , who spearheaded theDalit Buddhist movement Fact|date=November 2007. He is married to Seema Raj and they have two children Abhiraj and Saveri.Fact|date=November 2007Among his more controversial activities are mass conversions to Buddhism, Islam and Christianity; making disparaging statements about aspects of Hinduism; and his marriage of a woman from a higher caste despite his visibility as a
Dalit activist.Fact|date=November 2007Activism
He formed
Indian Justice Party , The All India Confederation of SC/ST Organisations on2 October 1997 and in1996 founded the Lord Buddha Club.He is a strong advocate of increased
Reservation in India for theScheduled Caste s,Scheduled Tribe s andOther Backward Class es. He has dismissed arguments against this form ofpositive discrimination as "baseless"Fact|date=March 2007. Raj has formed partnerships with Christian organizations including theIndian Social Institute and theAll India Christian Council . Raj has worked with prominent Christian leaders such asJohn Dayal andAmbrose Pinto and with Muslim leaders such asMaulana Mahmood Madani , general secretary of theJamiat-e-Ulama-e-Hind . His Personal Secretary isC. L. Maurya .Controversies
Mass Conversions
On October 27, 2002 Udit Raj organized a controversial conversion ceremony in which thousands of Dalits 'converted' to Buddhism, Islam, and Christianity. He has organized other conversion events including one at Chennai on December 6, 2002. These conversion activities have been criticized by some journalists as "deceptive","violent" and a "exercise in self-promotion" on the part of Udit Raj. [http://web.archive.org/web/20030622160717/http://www.the-week.com/21nov18/events6.htm Conversion: Ram Raj's rally was probably just an exercise in self-promotion] ]
Giriraj Kishore , senior vice president of theVishwa Hindu Parishad , has been quoted as saying:In particular, when he mocked
Hindu deities during his conversion speech, as a gesture of how he did not appreciate the religion, his audience was not amused and reacted with hostility. Raj has worked with Christian groups toproselytize Christianity and convert away from Hinduism. Sometimes these prosetylizations are considered illegitimate. Critics have also pointed out that he is usually not coherent in his response to questions as to how conversion will help alleviate the status of the converted. [ [http://www.tribuneindia.com/2001/20010610/edit.htm#6 Preaching Buddhism] ,"The Tribune"]
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