Days after his ministerial colleague Ramdas Athawale suggested that Dalits should embrace Buddhism, Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu on Tuesday was of the view that their getting converted would not end prejudices.
Talking to reporters on the sidelines of an event organised by the HUDCO to felicitate IAS topper Tina Dabi, a Dalit, Naidu said some people have suggested that conversion can end this problem, but that has not happened.
There have been cases where people came back saying they witnessed the same situation in other religions also, he added.
“See, some converted, then they came back and said we are witnessing same situation there. Now they are complaining that they are not getting reservation as Constitution does not provide reservation on the basis of religion,” Naidu said.
Asserting that Hinduism does not sanction discrimination, the Minister said, “No person who discriminates against another human being could ever be called a Hindu.”
“If you respect cow it is great, but other human beings also have the right to live, right to do their work. If you want to respect a cow respect it. Nothing wrong in this, but that doesn’t mean that you can kill anybody on that pretext. That is totally wrong,” Naidu said.
His comments came days after the statement by Athawale, a Dalit leader from Maharashtra, that people from the community should embrace Buddhism to avoid pressure or violence against them.
Naidu also noted that though Dabi came from weaker sections, her parents who came up the ladder gave her the right environment enabling her success and this goes to prove that the reservation policy of the country was intended to enable the weaker sections overcome social and economic limitations imposed on them and was not based on the assumption that some are inferior by birth.