More than 300 members of the Dalit community, including four persons who were flogged in 2016 for skinning a dead cow in a village near Una in Gujarat, converted to Buddhism on Sunday to protest against caste-based atrocities and discrimination in the State.
The four victims and 45 members of their family embraced Buddhism at a ceremony in their native village Mota Samadhiyala, 15 km from Una in the Saurashtra region of the State.
The public flogging of the Dalits in Una had created national outrage against the State administration led by the then Chief Minister Anandiben Patel.
‘No help from govt.’
“We are embracing Buddhism today. There is no point being in a religion in which you are treated as second class,” said Balu Sarvaiya, one of the converts from Una.
He said that even two years after the incident, the State government had hardly done anything for the victims, who were mercilessly flogged, tied onto an open jeep and paraded on the streets.
