HIVALI, INDIA, November 11, 2001: In Uttar Pradesh, Dalits are taking Buddhist vows and firing parting shots at the upper castes. Leading the movement is Udit Raj, an income-tax official who headed the November 4 conversion ceremony of thousands of “outcaste” Hindus to Buddhism in Delhi. “Since we were thwarted in Delhi [by the police preventing more Dalits from attending], I will now carry it on in villages,” says the president of the All-India Confederation of Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribe Organisations. Of the 7,000 residents of this dusty village, 3,000 are Dalits. Udit Raj says: “Embracing Buddhism is a sort of homecoming for us. Buddhism, after all, was born here.” A forest of hands goes up when he asks, “How many of you will further propagate the Buddhist message? Let nobody address you as a Dalit. Tick him off and tell him to address you as a Bodhi.”
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