Raaj Anand leaves the AAP, declaring that he “won’t tolerate insults to Dalits.”

Former minister for Delhi and leader of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Raaj Kumar, said he would not put up with ‘insults to Dalits’ only a day after he announced his resignation. Anand resigned on Wednesday, citing corruption inside the AAP and as a minister in Arvind Kejriwal’s government.

“For this, I requested a news conference. I want to be clear that my fear of ED is not the reason I came here. To locate evidence of money for the spirits fraud, the ED searched my home. “I would still be where I was if I had persisted in believing in this politics of lies,” said the former AAP leader.

“Saurabh Bhardwaj said yesterday, ‘Dalit, impoverished, weak’. Are Dalits all impoverished and weak? I won’t put up with Dalits insulting me,” he said.

Speaking at a news conference after his resignation, Anand said that the Dalit MLAs and ministers in the party are not appreciated and that the governing party is merely “talking” about Ambedkar’s ideas.

Additionally, he said that none of the party’s top officials in the administration or organisation are Dalits and that neither the MLAs nor the ministers serving in the Dalit community are respected. He went on to say that no state is led by a Dalit.

The Directorate of Enforcement (ED) raided Anand earlier in November of last year in relation to the purported liquor policy fraud.

The ED is said to have searched around nine locations connected to Anand, including his official home.

In 2020, Anand won an election to the Delhi assembly, where he now serves as the assembly representative for Patel Nagar. In the Kejriwal cabinet, he is responsible for many different ministries, including the Registrar of Cooperative Societies, Social Welfare, SC and ST, and Gurudwara elections.

Anand was a businessman before joining the AAP, and in 2011, he was seen with Kejriwal as part of the Anna Hazare-led campaign against corruption.