https://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/S...1&pub_date=20221107123000&seq_num=20&si=44594
Indian Dalits leave Hinduism in droves in blow to ruling BJP
Thousands embrace Buddhism as Modi's party's rights record faces scrutiny
Indian Dalits convert to Buddhism en masse at an event in New Delhi on Oct. 5. (Photo courtesy of Rajendra Pal Gautam's Twitter account)
TARUSHI ASWANI, Contributing writerNovember 6, 2022 10:45 JST
NEW DELHI -- Recent mass conversions to Buddhism by Indian Dalits have underscored anew the fears and frustrations of a community of about 200 million people considered to be at the bottom of the traditional Hindu caste system.
"We refuse to be punished any longer," said Ramji Lal, 34, who attended a conversion event in New Delhi on Oct. 5. He was one of a crowd of around 8,000, according to organizers, who made a point of leaving Hinduism. Such conversions are seen as a protest by people commonly known as "untouchables" due to their descent, leading to a life of exclusion and often abuse.
On Oct. 14, in the southern state of Karnataka, more than 100 Dalit men and women did the same, throwing pictures of Hindu deities into the Krishna River to renounce their faith.
Converting to Buddhism is not new for Dalits. Indeed, the Karnataka event came on the anniversary of social reformer B. R. Ambedkar's public conversion to Buddhism in 1956, a move that continues to reverberate generations later. "If you continue to remain within the fold of Hinduism, you cannot attain a status higher than that of a slave," Ambedkar said in a speech 20 years before he made the change, according to a collection of essays and speeches published on the Indian Ministry of External Affairs website.
In 2013, organizers of a conversion event in the state of Gujarat claimed that 60,000 people abandoned Hinduism at once, local media reported at the time.
The trend stands out given the Hindu nationalism of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government, and raises further questions about the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) record on human rights, which is already under scrutiny for alleged discrimination against Muslims, an accusation the BJP denies.
The BJP appears to have mixed views on such conversions, but after the Oct. 5 event in the capital, parliamentarian Manoj Tiwari tweeted that the event was "anti-Hindu," and criticized a Delhi legislator and minister from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) for attending. The Delhi BJP chief urged the AAP, which runs the capital territory government, to sack the minister, Rajendra Pal Gautam, "for his attempt to stoke communal tensions and spread hatred along religious lines within the country."
Gautam resigned soon afterward.
The New Delhi event was organized by Mission Jai Bheem, a nonprofit group founded by Gautam that aims to establish a casteless, egalitarian society in India.
Ishwar Singh, national secretary of Mission Jai Bheem, told Nikkei Asia that hatred toward Dalits forces them out of Hinduism. "Together, at least 8,000 Dalits accepted Buddhism. Does it not show the degree of our suffering?" he said. Singh argued that religious polarization in India under the current government demands bold steps by oppressed communities to claim their rights and freedoms.
While the caste system has existed in India for centuries, Singh and others argue that the rise of the BJP has brought a parallel rise in crimes against Dalits, especially during Modi's second term, which began in 2018. A report by the National Dalit Movement for Justice (NDMJ), a coalition of rights activists and academics, found that anti-Dalit crimes rose 27.3% in 2018 compared with 2009.
In 2021, India reported six crimes against Dalits every hour, according to the National Crime Records Bureau, with the total number of cases increasing to 50,900 from 50,291 in 2020.
A Dalit group holds a protest in 2020 after the death of a rape victim in New Delhi. © Reuters
The past few months have seen several shocking reports: a Dalit man killed in Uttar Pradesh, with family members alleging that he was attacked for touching an idol; another man allegedly killed in Uttarakhand by in-laws over a cross-caste marriage; a teacher arrested over the death of a 9-year-old Dalit boy, who was allegedly beaten for drinking water from a pot used by upper castes in Rajasthan.
Many feel the BJP government is not doing enough to stop such crimes and change attitudes, or is even perpetuating them. In 2018, in Uttar Pradesh's Kanpur Dehat, 10,000 Dalits embraced Buddhism under Savitri Bai Phule, a member of parliament who quit the BJP alleging the party was engaged in "divisive politics."
Still, in a community of 200 million, views among Dalits are bound to differ. Some support the BJP and disagree with the conversion movement.
Jagdish Prasad Maurya, a Dalit who belongs to the BJP, feels there is "no need" to organize a mass conversion drive. Maurya, from Uttar Pradesh, feels the latest events were political and only designed to send a strategic message. "If they really wanted to accept Buddhism, why do it at an event, why not privately?"
Countering such arguments, Prashant Kanojia, a political leader and former journalist who became a Buddhist a few years ago, said: "It is important to understand why large-scale conversions are taking place. Every year conversions are happening, but not at this scale." Quoting Ambedkar, Kanojia said, "It has been said that Hinduism is a building without a window. Meaning to say that if you are born into a caste, irrespective of your talent, merit, you will be forced to live a certain way, and if you're a Dalit, you're basically untouchable."
Converts say that life may improve in some respects afterward, though society also reminds them of their origins. In any case, it is their way of saying no to a religiously ordained system of discrimination.
Senior BJP officials, meanwhile, defend the party and say it looks out for Dalits.
Alok Vats, a BJP leader, noted that discrimination is hardly confined to states the party controls. "Look at Rajasthan," he said, referring to a state ruled by the opposition Indian National Congress. "Are Dalits not suffering there?"
"This whole conversion event [in New Delhi] was a drama by the AAP for political mileage," said Vats, an upper-caste Hindu. "This drama is only being tolerated because Hindus are accommodative."
Vats insisted that the BJP has treated the Dalit community with utmost respect, noting that India's previous president was a Dalit from the party, Ramnath Kovind.
Ordinary Dalits, however, suggest that such gestures have brought little change on the ground.
Sonu Malla, 27, described life as a Dalit in 21st-century India this way: The upper castes "have labeled us permanently and they use this label to harass us."
Indian Dalits leave Hinduism in droves in blow to ruling BJP
Thousands embrace Buddhism as Modi's party's rights record faces scrutiny
Indian Dalits convert to Buddhism en masse at an event in New Delhi on Oct. 5. (Photo courtesy of Rajendra Pal Gautam's Twitter account)
TARUSHI ASWANI, Contributing writerNovember 6, 2022 10:45 JST
NEW DELHI -- Recent mass conversions to Buddhism by Indian Dalits have underscored anew the fears and frustrations of a community of about 200 million people considered to be at the bottom of the traditional Hindu caste system.
"We refuse to be punished any longer," said Ramji Lal, 34, who attended a conversion event in New Delhi on Oct. 5. He was one of a crowd of around 8,000, according to organizers, who made a point of leaving Hinduism. Such conversions are seen as a protest by people commonly known as "untouchables" due to their descent, leading to a life of exclusion and often abuse.
On Oct. 14, in the southern state of Karnataka, more than 100 Dalit men and women did the same, throwing pictures of Hindu deities into the Krishna River to renounce their faith.
Converting to Buddhism is not new for Dalits. Indeed, the Karnataka event came on the anniversary of social reformer B. R. Ambedkar's public conversion to Buddhism in 1956, a move that continues to reverberate generations later. "If you continue to remain within the fold of Hinduism, you cannot attain a status higher than that of a slave," Ambedkar said in a speech 20 years before he made the change, according to a collection of essays and speeches published on the Indian Ministry of External Affairs website.
In 2013, organizers of a conversion event in the state of Gujarat claimed that 60,000 people abandoned Hinduism at once, local media reported at the time.
The trend stands out given the Hindu nationalism of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government, and raises further questions about the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) record on human rights, which is already under scrutiny for alleged discrimination against Muslims, an accusation the BJP denies.
The BJP appears to have mixed views on such conversions, but after the Oct. 5 event in the capital, parliamentarian Manoj Tiwari tweeted that the event was "anti-Hindu," and criticized a Delhi legislator and minister from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) for attending. The Delhi BJP chief urged the AAP, which runs the capital territory government, to sack the minister, Rajendra Pal Gautam, "for his attempt to stoke communal tensions and spread hatred along religious lines within the country."
Gautam resigned soon afterward.
The New Delhi event was organized by Mission Jai Bheem, a nonprofit group founded by Gautam that aims to establish a casteless, egalitarian society in India.
Ishwar Singh, national secretary of Mission Jai Bheem, told Nikkei Asia that hatred toward Dalits forces them out of Hinduism. "Together, at least 8,000 Dalits accepted Buddhism. Does it not show the degree of our suffering?" he said. Singh argued that religious polarization in India under the current government demands bold steps by oppressed communities to claim their rights and freedoms.
While the caste system has existed in India for centuries, Singh and others argue that the rise of the BJP has brought a parallel rise in crimes against Dalits, especially during Modi's second term, which began in 2018. A report by the National Dalit Movement for Justice (NDMJ), a coalition of rights activists and academics, found that anti-Dalit crimes rose 27.3% in 2018 compared with 2009.
In 2021, India reported six crimes against Dalits every hour, according to the National Crime Records Bureau, with the total number of cases increasing to 50,900 from 50,291 in 2020.
A Dalit group holds a protest in 2020 after the death of a rape victim in New Delhi. © Reuters
The past few months have seen several shocking reports: a Dalit man killed in Uttar Pradesh, with family members alleging that he was attacked for touching an idol; another man allegedly killed in Uttarakhand by in-laws over a cross-caste marriage; a teacher arrested over the death of a 9-year-old Dalit boy, who was allegedly beaten for drinking water from a pot used by upper castes in Rajasthan.
Many feel the BJP government is not doing enough to stop such crimes and change attitudes, or is even perpetuating them. In 2018, in Uttar Pradesh's Kanpur Dehat, 10,000 Dalits embraced Buddhism under Savitri Bai Phule, a member of parliament who quit the BJP alleging the party was engaged in "divisive politics."
Still, in a community of 200 million, views among Dalits are bound to differ. Some support the BJP and disagree with the conversion movement.
Jagdish Prasad Maurya, a Dalit who belongs to the BJP, feels there is "no need" to organize a mass conversion drive. Maurya, from Uttar Pradesh, feels the latest events were political and only designed to send a strategic message. "If they really wanted to accept Buddhism, why do it at an event, why not privately?"
Countering such arguments, Prashant Kanojia, a political leader and former journalist who became a Buddhist a few years ago, said: "It is important to understand why large-scale conversions are taking place. Every year conversions are happening, but not at this scale." Quoting Ambedkar, Kanojia said, "It has been said that Hinduism is a building without a window. Meaning to say that if you are born into a caste, irrespective of your talent, merit, you will be forced to live a certain way, and if you're a Dalit, you're basically untouchable."
Converts say that life may improve in some respects afterward, though society also reminds them of their origins. In any case, it is their way of saying no to a religiously ordained system of discrimination.
Senior BJP officials, meanwhile, defend the party and say it looks out for Dalits.
Alok Vats, a BJP leader, noted that discrimination is hardly confined to states the party controls. "Look at Rajasthan," he said, referring to a state ruled by the opposition Indian National Congress. "Are Dalits not suffering there?"
"This whole conversion event [in New Delhi] was a drama by the AAP for political mileage," said Vats, an upper-caste Hindu. "This drama is only being tolerated because Hindus are accommodative."
Vats insisted that the BJP has treated the Dalit community with utmost respect, noting that India's previous president was a Dalit from the party, Ramnath Kovind.
Ordinary Dalits, however, suggest that such gestures have brought little change on the ground.
Sonu Malla, 27, described life as a Dalit in 21st-century India this way: The upper castes "have labeled us permanently and they use this label to harass us."
