Koraput Congress MlA Krushna Chandra Sagaria along with his family members and a large number of other villagers formally embraced Buddhism on Sunday.
Sagaria and his entire family, including three brothers, converted to Buddhism at a special function held at Burja village under laxmipur block of Koraput district.
About a hundred other families of his village and nearby areas also switched their religion from Hinduism to Buddhism. Chhattisgarh-based Buddhist monk Bhonte Buddha Ghosh conducted the oath-taking rituals at a two-day Dharma Kranti Samaroh, which had started from Saturday. Several Buddhist monks from Raipur and Nagpur also took part in the mega event.
Earlier, Sagaria had filed an affidavit before the Koraput Executive Magistrate before embracing Buddhism. “I shall follow all the procedure for conversion as required by the Rules of the Odisha Freedom of Religion Rules 1989,” he stated in the affidavit.
Buddhism preaches wisdom, friendship and equality, Sagaria said, adding that Babasaheb Ambedkar had said that “if you want to establish equality in society and acquire erudition then you should adopt Buddhism”.