Maulana Furqan Raza, who met with as many as 500 members of dalit Valmiki community on said: “They have been terrorised. They are not doing this for their love for Islam. They believe that they would be able to protect their houses by adopting Islam.
However, any conversion under fear is not permitted in our religion. So we have refused to be part of any conversion programme.”
According to a report published in Mailtoday, As many as 500 members of Dalits in Rampur (western Uttar Pradesh), have said that they will convert to Islam on Ambedkar Jayanti,i.e. on April 14.
They say it is their way of protesting against a proposed demolition drive by the Rampur administration. A Valmiki Basti resident says that their houses will not get demolished if they convert to Islam, as Islam does not differentiate people based on caste.
Kumar Eklavya, leader of Valmiki Basti Bachao Sangahrsh Samiti, said that on Tuesday, a senior officer of the Rampur Nagarpalika entered their colony and informed them about the decision to demolish their homes.
“We were told that some influential upper caste Hindus wanted to build a shopping mall and that is why the municipality people want our home to be demolished, on which we are living from decades,” Mr. Eklavya said.
This comes months after Dalits in Meerut had threatened to convert to Islam in protest against the denial of their rights to perform puja in a Maharshi Valmiki temple in Baghpat.
The police have registered a case against members of the Valmiki community for staging a protest march against the Samajwadi Party government after the authorities marked their houses in the Topkhana locality for demolition.