London:
The Voice is keeping the UK Dalits well in touch with the incidents at home. In recent weeks there has been a talk about letting the Yorkshire cricketer Geoff Boycott to play in India for the obvious reason that he was linked with playing, training and coaching in South Africa. The Indian Government and Indian politicians have lost the credibility to talk about Apartheid in South Africa when they cannot put their own house in order.
Dalits here are asking that our counterparts in India are a set of honest, sincere, hard-working people. Why don’t the society in which they live mind its own business and let us prosper on our own with the help of the rights provided by the Constitution, which needs to be safeguarded by the Government?
The world press is not keeping quiet on heart-rending social degradation of the majority and social awakening of the valiant in India. The prestigious London Times (Aug. 31) has published a story by Kuldip Nayar under the headline, “Hindus concerned over Islamic conversions“. The report says Hindus have better relations with Muslims than with Harijans. It was seen in Rajasthan during the recent floods that while Hindus and Muslims would queue up together for medicine, there would be a separate queue for Harijans. The Guardian (Aug. 21) carries a report under the headline, “New Life in Islam for Indian Untouchables Harijans are discovering that they hold potent political lever against Hindu caste system“. The report from its New Delhi correspondent Peter Niesewand says Untouchables have gained a lot through Islam. The Indian Constitution guarantees the right to change one’s religion. The report quotes Home Minister Makwana, Madras economist C. T. Kurien, defending the Untouchables right to conversion to gain equality. At Kanpur, the police arrested 23 Dalit Panthers threatening to embrace Islam. Niesewand’s verdict on Indian untouchability: “Millions of Harijans not only remain poor but are Hindus in name only. Their untouchability bars them from even the most basic rights of their religion because they are born as out castes”. The correspondent quotes an Untouchable, who became a Muslim, saying how he got social status because of conversion.
