50 Dalit families protest injustice, 'shun' Hinduism in Uttar Pradesh

About 50 Dalit families in Moradabad have immersed statues of Hindu deities in the river there and started greeting one another with the salutation 'Salaamwalekum' instead of the usual 'Ram Ram', following an increase in incidents of attacks on Dalits in Uttar Pradesh ever since the Yogi Adityanath-led BJP government came to power.

They have threatened to embrace Islam if attacks on Dalits do not stop in Uttar Pradesh immediately. About 50 Dalit families took out a procession on Saturday evening carrying statues of Hindu deities, including Lord Rama and Ganesha, and immersed them in the Ramganga river in Moradabad.

"This symbolises us giving up the Hindu religion, which we were practising thus far," said Lalla Babu, a local Dalit leader. Babu claimed that they were promised "Ramrajaya" by the Yogi government, but instead Dalits are being subjected to the same inhumane treatment by the upper castes all over the state under the present regime, as was the case earlier.

He cited the example of Saharanpur, where Dalit women, children and senior citizens were thrashed, and that of Sabbirpur, where the houses of 25 Dalit families were set ablaze by Thakurs.

The Dalit leader also alleged that upper caste members forced about half a dozen barber shops of Dalits in Bahjoi village in Sambhal district to down shutters. "They were warned to not allow Dalits to visit their shops. When they refused to follow that diktat, the Brahmins and Thakurs of the area forced them to close their shops," Babu said.

BJP General Secretary Vijaya Bahadur Pathak, however, allayed such fears, saying that the issue was being blown out of proportion by vested interests. "The Yogi government is working for all without any prejudice. The welfare of Dalits and the poor is uppermost in our agenda," Pathak said.