AHMEDABAD: Nearly 50,000 people belonging to the Dalit and tribal community on Friday renounced Hinduism and embraced Buddhism on the occasion of the 132nd birth anniversary of social reformer BR Ambedkar at Gandhinagar in Gujarat.
Baudh bhikshu Pragya Ratna of the Great Ashoka Buddh Vihar in Porbandar administered the 'Deeksha' to the hundreds of thousands of attendees.
The Swayam Sainik Dal (SSD), a Rajkot-based Dalit organization organised the event. The event was preceded by a mega rally that saw participation from thousands of people, mostly Dalits, and tribals.
Those who embraced Buddhism at the Gandhinagar gathering took 22 vows which the chief architect of the Constitution took while embracing Buddhism more than 66 years ago. These 22 pledges essentially ask the person embracing Buddhism to shun religious beliefs related to Hinduism.
"While lakhs of people attended the rally, hundreds embraced Buddhism at our gathering. While some of them have already submitted applications to respective district collector office to legalise their conversion, the others will do the same soon," said Ashvin Parmar, a media convener of SSD, a Dalit organisation that has no specific leadership or hierarchy.
On the occasion, several speakers claimed Dalits and tribals are forced to leave Hinduism because of caste-based discrimination. Notably, Ambedkar, along with his thousands of followers, embraced Buddhism on October 14, 1956, in Nagpur.
Meanwhile, Gujarat BJP leaders disagreed with the conversion. BJP Scheduled Cast Morcha General Secretary Shambhunath Tundiya and BJP National President SC Morcha Lal Singh Arya stated that religious freedom is for everyone, but conversion due to misinformation is wrong.
“Religious freedom is for everyone, but conversion is wrong. Some people change religion by making false allegations and spreading misinformation; I abhor such conversion,” said Tundiya.
Religious conversion has been taking place in Gujarat for long. Converts have made complaints to the media that even today a Dalit boy is not permitted to ride a horse or grow a mustache in the state. so they prefer to escape the humiliation by giving up the faith.
(With inputs from PTI.)