[Buddha-l] India: dalits and tribals in thousands head to Mumbai for conversion to Buddhism

[jkirk]

I wonder how well this move will work for them. Untouchability and or 
demeaning caste positions are also based on the purity or impurity of
occupations-- sweeper jobs (cleaning up shit off streets and from
houses) being the lowest and most impure of all. Gandhi, a Hindu, tried 
to overcome this lowest liability by impressing on his followers that if
they
wanted to stay at his ashram, they must clean their own toilets--yet he 
never got involved in a movement per se to end social untouchability as 
did Ambedkar, who came from a dalit caste and started the conversions
to Buddhism movement. 
If they can follow this move up by forming more self-help organisations, 
a move not available to most dalits at this time (except for a few political
parties, 
like Mayavati's Bahujan Party in UP), their sheer mass if organised could
provide dignity and respectable occupations to them better than what they
have
access to now. 
Joanna
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Low caste Indians seek to convert 


  
 
Thousands of tribal and Dalit Hindus in India have gathered in Mumbai to
convert en masse to Buddhism. 

The ceremony, at which ten of thousands are expected to embrace the Buddhist
faith, is being billed as the largest religious conversion in modern India. 


The converts hope to escape the rigid caste system in which their status is
the lowest. 


Right-wing Hindus have often opposed conversion, pushing some Indian states
to restrict legal changes of faith. 


The BBC's Zubair Ahmed, who is at the racecourse in Mumbai for the event,
says 30,000 people are already present, although the organisers are not
giving a figure for the total number they expect to convert. 


Conversion controversies 


The Dalits, once known as Untouchables, hope the conversion will give them
dignity and equal rights. 


"Once they convert themselves to another religion, the minimum they will get
is treatment as human beings," Arun Khote of the National Campaign on Dalit
Human Rights told the BBC. 


Commentators say that despite the reservation of jobs for the Dalit and
tribal communities, their social status and economic conditions have not
greatly improved. 


They say that Dalits still face widespread prejudice and discrimination. 


Conversion is a controversial subject in India, especially if it involves
Hindus converting to Christianity or Islam. 


Two weeks ago two Catholic priests were publicly beaten after being accused
of trying to bring a group of local people into the Catholic faith. 


But converting to Buddhism does not evoke much adverse reaction, as many in
India believe Buddhism is an extension of Hinduism. 


Even so, several Indian states, especially the ones governed by the
right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party, BJP, have made laws severely restricting
conversion. 


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