Umraav Khan, formerly Umrao Salodia, the retired IAS officer, who adopted Islam three years ago while serving as Additional Chief Secretary (ACS) in the Rajasthan government, says he was compelled to use his former Hindu name while filing his nomination papers as the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) candidate for the Jaipur Parliamentary seat.
Speaking to the media, the BSP candidate said that he could not get permission from the Central government to issue the gazette notification for a name change and hence had no other option, but to file his nomination using his former name.
Khan, a 1978 batch IAS officer from the Dalit community, converted to Islam in 2015, in protest against being denied the promotion that would make him the State’s Chief Secretary. He had alleged the BJP-led Rajasthan government of “victimising him on the basis of caste”. The officer also quit government service six months before he was due to retire.
After his conversion, he changed his name to Umraav Khan.
Khan said that he has written to the concerned officials about the issue, but could not get any answer from them.
He asserted that he remains firm on his conversion and considers himself a follower of Islam.
“I am contesting the elections to ensure that Dalits get their due rights.” he said.
(With inputs from IANS)
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Shaik Zakeer Hussain is the Founder and Editor of The Cognate.
