Dalits convert to Islam, Buddhism and Christianity
By MG News Desk
New Delhi, October 28 (MG): Over a hundred Dalits (low-caste Hindus) converted to Buddhism, Islam and Christianity, Sunday, October 27, in protest against the inequality in Hindu religion, which treats Dalits as sub-human, even less important than cattle.
The new converts included families of the five Dalits lynched on October 15 for skinning a dead cow. For hundreds of generations these people have been skinning dead animals. High-caste Hindus worship the cow as %u201C mother,%u201D and are generally anti-cow slaughter. However, they have traditionally allowed skinning of dead animals, including cows, and their trade.
On October 15, a mob of 2000 upper caste Hindus lynched five Dalit young men for having %u201C killed%u201D a cow barely 60 kilometres from the national capital as 50 policemen and senior government officials watched silently. Families of victims say that their relatives were actually killed by the police for refusing to pay high bribes. The latest round of conversions has come in response to that event.
Dalits are aggrieved not only about the continuing harassment and humiliation at the hands of high-caste Hindus, but by the justification of such harassment by religious leaders. Soon after the lynching, a high-profile Hindu religious leader, Giriraj Kishore, told newspersons in Delhi that as per Hindu scriptures, %u201C the life of a cow is more precious than a man%u2019 s.%u201D
