M A I N   N E W S

Five more Dalits convert

Rohtak, November 5
In a continued fallout of the Jhajjar lynchings, five more Dalits reportedly embraced Buddhism on Divali in protest against the Hindu practice of “casteism and untouchability’’ at a conversion ceremony at a temple in Meham town of Haryana.

The one-and-a-half-hour conversion ceremony was organised at Ravi Dass Temple in the afternoon. A Buddhist monk from Delhi, Bante Budhsheel, performed the rituals in the presence of over 24 persons.

Rohtak district Deputy Commissioner Ashok Kumar Yadav today said he would inquire into the matter.

All five persons who adopted Buddhism got their heads tonsured as they were fed up with the practices laid down in the traditional varna system.

Four of the converts, including two brothers, were from a Scheduled Caste while the fifth belonged to the Other Backward Classes.

The brothers — Surender and Virender — and the OBC, Mahavir Singh Rohilla, were residents of Meham whereas the other SC converts, Kuldeep and Bijender, hail from Kaneena village in Jind district.

Surender and Virender are the sons of Jage Ram, leader of the All-India Federation of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribe and Backward Class Organisations. The local Lord Buddha Club organised the rites.

CHANDIGARH: The All-India Confederation of SC/ST Organisation (Haryana unit) has claimed to have converted a large number of Dalits to Buddhism during its programme on the occasion of Divali yesterday.

In a press statement here today, Mr Karamvir Singh, President of the AICSSO’s Haryana unit, claimed that more than 200 Dalits got converted to Buddhism at Meham (Rohtak district), about 150 got converted at Gannaur (Sonepat), 100 at Narnaul (Mahendragarh), 200 in Thana and Pehowa areas of Kurukshetra and 100 each at Bhiwani and Fatehabad.

The statement claimed that people from Haryana also participated in the conversion ceremony held at Daddu Majra, near Chandigarh, where more than 100 got converted to Buddhism yesterday. TNS, UNI