In an amusing incident, a retired IAS officer, who had ridiculously converted to Islam for not getting the post of Chief Secretary in Rajasthan, showed himself again as Hindu while filing the nominations for the Lok Sabha polls.
Umrav Salodiya, a retired IAS officer who served the Rajasthan government as the Additional Chief Secretary. He had resigned in 2015 on the pretext that he was not promoted as Chief Secretary because of his Dalit origins, and soon converted to Islam. He even kept the name of Umrao Khan for himself.
However, after 4 years, while filing the nominations for the Jaipur parliamentary constituency, the very Umrao Khan once again wrote his name as Umrav Salodiya. He is currently contesting on a Bahujan Samaj Party ticket as of now, and hopes to get elected as a Parliamentarian in order to provide better avenues to his community.
To quote his address to the media, “I could not get permission from the Central government to issue the gazette notification for a name change and hence have to submit my earlier name. I have written to the concerned officials but could not get any answer from them.”
Umrav further added, “I remain firm on my conversion and consider myself a true follower of Islam. I am contesting the elections to ensure that Dalits get their due rights. Looking at my seniority, I should have been appointed as the Chief Secretary of the state which was not done.”
Though weird, as well as atrocious to an extent, this is not the first time an electoral candidate has shown contradictory details while filing the nominations for his Lok Sabha polls. Though she married Kashmiri businessman Mohsin Akhtar Mir, and reportedly even converted to Islam, actress Mariam Akhtar Mir is still fighting on her former Hindu name Urmila Matondkar on behalf of Congress party.
Even Rahul Gandhi, the Congress President, was found providing incorrect details about his education, as exposed by news portal ‘The New Indian Express’, with respect to his M Phil degree obtained from Trinity College, Cambridge University. As such, it comes as no surprise, if just for the sake of attention; a man like Umrao Khan is providing contradictory details while filing the nominations for the Lok Sabha polls. After all, shamelessly lying is another prerequisite for being accepted in Indian politics.