After Dalit families found living amongst the upper caste Hindus a nightmare, Forty people from eight families in Tamil Nadu’s Theni have embraced Islam.
The conversion happened a few days ago at Dombicheri village in Theni’s Bodinayakanur town and Islamic priests solemnized the conversion.
The Bodinayakanur town in Tamil Nadu is the constituency of O. Panneerselvam, who was the former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu and a senior leader of the AIADMK.
The forty people, who converted said that they were continuously attacked by Upper caste Hindus. The Hindus didn’t allow them to drink tea or coffee from local restaurants and wayside tea shops citing the lower caste status, as per reports. While the men were beaten up, the neo converts said that Dalit girls were teased and lewd comments and gestures were made at them when they were walking on the streets.
Talking to IANS, Rahima (32), earlier known as Veeralakshmi said: “We are forced to convert. We are being teased, beaten, insulted, and not being allowed to walk in the same street where Upper caste Hindus walk. Our parents and grandparents suffered this ignominy and we decided that enough is enough. We are now Muslims and we don’t find any demarcation here.”
Allegedly that the upper caste Hindus attack them regularly, the Neo converts said that once in every six months some or other incidents of violence against the Dalits were reported in Dombucheri.
Raheema’s husband Mohammed Ismail, formerly known as Kalaikannan said that he was beaten up during the Deepavali celebrations in November 2021 by upper caste men after which he decided to convert to Islam. He said that the Dalits in the villages of Tamil Nadu were living a life of misery.
Tamil Puligal Party’s then north secretary Mohammed Ali Jinnah, earlier Varimuthu, told IANS that he converted to Islam fifteen years ago. “The reason for conversion is nothing but the atrocities on Dalits by the caste Hindus. We were not even allowed to walk on the streets through which they walk. For fifteen years, I am getting respect after converting to Islam and this is what a man wants.”
However, denying the upper caste atrocities being the reason behind conversions, Hindu Munnani said that Islamist parties like the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) and its offshoot Popular Front of India (PFI) are forcing people to convert to Islam by luring them with several freebies and those who resist are threatened.
“We are reaching out to the Dombucheri village people of Theni district. We will convince them against this and all will be well within a few days,” said Arjun while speaking to IANS.
On February 19, 1981, 180 Dalit Pallavar families had converted to Islam in Meenakshipuram village of Tirunelveli district in Tamil Nadu, creating a major uproar across the country and international media had also reported on the untouchability that was dormant in India. The converted people alleged that they were attacked by the majority Thevar community and conversion was their last resort to escape the torment at the hands of upper-caste Hindus.
Citing a lack of fulfillment of promises, ten years after the conversion in 1991, nearly 900 people out of 1100 converted from 180 families returned to the Hindu community.
The new religious conversion conversions to Islam is following the Madras High Court ordering a CBI inquiry into the suicide death of 12th class girl student alleging forced religious conversion. The Bhartiya Janata Party and Hindu Munnani had come out strongly on the matter.
(Inputs from IANS)
