Makwana Defends Conversions

Calcutta: Union Minister of State for Home Makwana said here recently that democracy had no future if Untouchables continue to be treated worse than animals. Referring to Meenakshipuram and other conversions, he said while on tour of these areas he had established that the charge of foreign money being involved was false. Untouchables who had received inhuman treatment from Hindus found liberation in Islam. Those who met him expressed their sorrow like animals crying and rolling before him. Visiting the home of a dalit revenue officer, ransacked in the intercaste riot, he was told that the officer was ordered to get out of the police station. Recalling his own childhood, he said that being an Untouchable he was not allowed to attend the village school. He blamed the Hindu society as being responsible for the conversions.