Dalits Convert To Buddhism In Haryana After Their Demands Were Not Fulfilled By The State Government 

A group of Dalit families converted to Buddhism in Jind, Haryana claiming that the state government wasn’t acting on their demands even after 189 days of protests, The Tribune has reported.

The protesters had demanded that a government job for the next of kin of a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) martyr who died in Kathua, a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the suicide of a Dalit and a rape-murder case of Dalit girl in Jhansa, Kurukshetra.

“Following laid-down procedures, the government duly compensates Dalit families. But some self-styled Dalit activists are using the community to shape false narratives against the BJP,” Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Krishan Kumar Bedi told The Tribune.

Krishan Kumar Bedi, a Dalit leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has said that an the new converts were administered an oath not to vote for BJP. Thus he argued that the conversion was aimed at defaming BJP. The conversion was conducted by Buddhist Society of India. The number of converts, however, was not revealed by the society.

The government has denied a job due to strict recruitment procedures in the state. Jind Deputy Commissioner Amit Khatri said the widow of the CRPF jawan had joined an ad hoc job in the Asset Management Cell in Jind. For reasons that are unclear she had stopped going to the job, she said.