Conversion among Dalits

Abstract

There were many social and reformatory movements to help the weak and the downtrodden to acquire social, political and economic justice. But these movements were either wholly regional or had a limited range of impact. The conversion movement initiated by Ambedkar is one movement, which has attempted to gather together the downtrodden and the exploited class and offer them a new status in the society. It is thus a quiet revolution. Of all the evils that are perpetuated under the garb of religion, conversion is vilest. The oppressed classes of which there is no dearth in this country, conversions pose the greatest threat to public order. The threat of conversion from being an expression of anger has now become a political fad feeding the hungering bigots, who linger on the sidelines, salivating for their pound of flesh. Now, dalits facing oppression threaten to convert, dalits facing eviction threaten to convert, dalits facing poverty threaten to convert. Even those protesting lack of civic amenities threaten to convert.