U.P. law a ploy to pit Dalits and Muslims against each other’

Omar Rashid LUCKNOW

The Uttar Pradesh government’s ordinance against unlawful conversions is a ploy to pit Dalits and Muslims against each other and it would create fear among the communities, Dalit rights activists in the State said on Wednesday.

S.R. Darapuri, retired IPS officer and a Dalit rights activist, said the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Religious Conversion Ordinance, 2020 was indirectly targeted at Muslims, Dalits and Christians.

While noting that conversion of Dalits to Christianity and Islam was not as common as before, he said the ordinance was meant to deter them from converting to the Buddhist faith.

Buddhist conversion

“They are killing many birds with one stone... Dalits will face the biggest hitch. The biggest adverse impact will be on the Buddhist conversion of Dalits,” said Mr. Darapuri.

Udit Raj, former MP and Congress spokesperson, who has conducted mass conversions in the past, said the ordinance was a ploy to pit Dalits against Muslims.

Ram Kripal Pasi, national general secretary of the Akhil Bharatiya Pasi Samaj outfit, said the ordinance was a strategy of the BJP-RSS to “keep Dalits under the Hindu fold”.