Dalits living in Meerut villages on Friday decided to organise a panchayat to discuss the lack of access to a Balmiki temple situated on Meerut Baghpat road.
This comes a day after about sixty Dalits of Jamalpur village in Meerut threatened to convert to Islam after they were denied access to the temple allegedly by its upper caste priest.
The aggrieved Dalits, who were denied permission to celebrate Balmiki Jayanti on October 8, gave the deadline of January 26 for getting access to the temple failing which they will convert to Islam.
Meanwhile, the local BJP leaders continued to persuade the Dalits on Friday to let go of their wish to convert to Islam.
Premnath Dhingar, a local dalit leader told The Hindu that more than 2 lakhs Dalits live in Meerut countryside who will attend the panchayat.
“We will meet tomorrow[Saturday] to fix the date of the panchayat. We will chalk out our future strategy about how to get access to the temple which has been hijacked by upper caste people,” he said.
The VHP approached the Dalit families asking them not to convert to Islam and assuring them access to the temple but Dalit activists like Mr. Dhingar remained unimpressed.
“VHP just wants to get the media coverage. What should these Dalits do if they have been historically made the target of untouchability. What kind of Hinduism these Hindutva people want us to follow! At least in Islam there is no untouchability,” questioned Mr. Dhingar.
