Temple off limits, Dalits to convert

CAST(E) AWAY: Dalits say they will convert to Buddhism unless they are allowed to enter the temple within a month.

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Orissa: More than a month after the Orissa High Court's order, Dalits are yet to enter the 300-year-old Jagannath temple at Keradagada in Kendrapara district.

Complaining that the upper caste have prevailed over the district administration, which is working out a formula allowing entry only upto a certain point inside the temple, Dalits now say they will convert to Buddhism.

Says a Dalit protestor, Bimalla Mallick, "They do not allow us into the temple so then what is the use of being a Hindu. So we will become Buddhists."

In a memorandum to the District Collector, a group of Dalits have said they would convert in accordance with the Orissa Freedom of Religion Act-1967 unless remedial measures are taken within a month's time.

Dalit leader and former union minister, Bhajaman Behera, says, "It is disrespect to the court and the Constitution. We do not want violence so we want to get converted."

The district administration, though, is playing down the issue.

Says the Collector of Kendrapara, Kashinath Sahoo, "There are certain rules for conversion and no one has filed application according to that rule."

After the court's intervention, it seemed the controversy would end once and for all, but clearly, the issue is far from settled.