AGRA: A large number of people mostly belonging to the backward Classes plan to convert from Hinduism to Buddhism in view of the atrocities being committed on them according to Gulab Chand Sehra former UP Minister and now chairman of the state scheduled castes and scheduled tribes development council,
Speaking to newsmen he said the conversions would take place in two batches on the auspicious dates of Buddh Purnima and Ashok Vijay dashmi in Sept and Oct. Sehra said the members of the backward classes were no longer prepared to suffer at the hands of upper caste Hindus.
He disclosed that the organizational setup of the council in 62 districts of UP had started registering people who would opt for conversion. In Agra, Choudhuries and Panches of the Jatay community had passed resolutions giving their approval of the proposed conversions, they said after every carnage and inter clash the scheduled castes had been hoping that something would be done to ameliorate their conditions. Ever since independence the center and state govt’s had only indulged in lip service to the cause of the backward classes. But the root cause of the social evil had never been touched.
He regretted that organizations like the Vishwa Hindu Parishad the BJP and RSS considered to be champions of the entire Hindu community had played a passive role in the recent incidents,
Sehra said that when curfew was imposed in localities predominately inhabited by backward classes they suffered the most. A majority of those arrested were innocent scheduled castes, he said.
Article extracted from this publication >> July 13, 1990
