http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?NewsID=1099685
Faith accompli Monday, May 28, 2007 21:57 IST Sunday's mass conversion ceremony where people from 42 nomadic tribes embraced Buddhism is the biggest such exercise among Dalits. For the massive congregation, it was also a significant day because it marked the completion of the 50th year of Dalit leader BR Ambedkar's baptism into Buddhism. Mass conversions of Dalits are not new in Maharashtra. Since Ambedkar himself embraced Buddhism, this has been a regular practice, almost a tradition. It has great symbolic value, enunciated by Ambedkar himself, who used it as a rejection of Hindu society, in which Dalits, the lowest of the castes, have suffered for many millenia. But the Dalit question, lately, has acquired a new currency post Mayawati's thumping victory in Uttar Pradesh. The mass conversion, hence, must be seen within that context. The Dalit movement in the state is no longer what it used to be, primarily because of lacklustre leadership and the fact that larger political parties wanted to co-opt the Dalits into their fold. The Republican Party of India (RPI), the vanguard of Dalit politics in the state is in shambles, having broken into several splinter groups. Not surprisingly, the state's Dalits have either gravitated towards the Congress or the Shiv Sena-BJP combine, in the hope that aligning with the larger formations will somehow help their cause. That has not really happened. This is where Mayawati comes in. Politicians across the country have not failed to register the impact of Mayawati's victory in the UP elections and have calculated the possible ramifications in their own states. The presence of Maharashtra chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh and his deputy RR Patil from the Nationalist Congress Party clearly indicates that both the Congress and the NCP do not want the Dalit vote to drift away. The Dalit leadership in the state has a bigger problem. For them, Mayawati's victory could mean that the Bahujan Samaj Party can strike roots here, undermining their base. Though the political situation in Maharashtra is quite different from that in UP, and Dalits in this state may not accept Mayawati's leadership, this could change; at the very least, it could spur Dalits into uniting and turning away from the RPI formations. Their religious conversion could well be followed by a political one. Either way, the winds of change in UP have reached Maharashtra. If this helps Dalits, it can only be a good thing. But, given that they have been let down in the past, often by their own leaders, it remains to be seen how these perceptible changes in the country's political climate helps them.
