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Bypoll a launch pad for forces against anti-conversion law: DPI

By Our Staff Reporter

CUDDALORE DEC. 1. The byelection for the Sattankulam Assembly segment has provided a common platform for Dalits, minorities, the Left and secular forces ``to give a fitting reply'' to the State Government's anti-conversion legislation, the Dalit Panthers of India general secretary, R. Tirumavalavan, said today.

Talking to presspersons, Mr. Tirumavalavan said organisations representing Dalits, minorities, the Left, rationalists and secular forces should emerge a ``formidable political force'' in the State and the DPI would take the initiative to bring them together. They should strive for a viable alternative to ``fundamentalist'' parties at the national level too.

People were aware of the fact that various legislations and schemes, including the one related to wasteland development, had badly affected the downtrodden masses. This would definitely reflect on the bypoll outcome, he said.

Admitting that division among the Dalit outfits would weaken the struggle to defend the rights of the Dalits, he said the coming together of the DPI and the Puthia Tamizhagam in the campaign against the anti-conversion law was a welcome move even as the two parties would carry out their activities in their own bastions.

DMK-BJP ties

To a query, he said the ongoing war of words between the DMK and BJP leaders only showed that their relationship was no longer cordial. "The DPI wished that the simmering differences between the two parties took a concrete shape." If the DMK and BJP parted ways, the former might evince interest in joining hands with other secular forces on a cultural platform to oppose the "draconian anti-conversion legislation, which was worse than the TADA and the POTA."

Also, the statements issued by the AIADMK leadership showed that the party had started moving closer to the BJP.

The DPI would launch a Statewide agitation against the anti-conversion law in three phases. In the first phase, the party activists would stage demonstrations in all district headquarters and burn copies of the legislation tomorrow. In the second, about 5,000 Dalits would convert their `Hindu names' into `Tamil names', and the campaign would be a continuous one. In the final phase, a three-month-long propaganda would be launched in all villages from January next highlighting the "importance of conversion, which was considered to be the last weapon in the hands of the Dalits to assert their rights."

Mr. Thirumavalavan, who recently visited Tamil areas in Sri Lanka, also reiterated the demand for lifting the ban on the LTTE in India against the backdrop of the ongoing peace process to end the civil war in the island.

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