Amid reports of conversion and re-conversion from different parts of the State, Rashtriya Janata Dal MP Pappu Yadav has suggested that poor Dalits can convert to other religions to escape caste oppression and prejudices. He also supported the Aamir Khan starrer PK and demanded a ban on militant Hindu outfits for protesting against screening of the movie in theatres across the country.
“Dalits and poor people who are victims of caste oppression and prejudices in society should convert to Christianity, Buddhism or any other religion of their choice. This is the only way for them to get rid of the so-called thekedar [contractors] of religion,” declared the RJD MP from Madhepura.
Mr. Pappu Yadav, who, of late, has waged a war against corrupt doctors, further said that he too would have converted to another religion had he been born in a poor and oppressed caste.
“There is no way out to escape from these dharm ke thekedars [religious contractors]”, he told The Hindu wondering why some people have any objection to poor people converting to any other religion for their growth.
“Why don’t they do something for their welfare instead of hyping up their re-conversion?”, he asked.
He further said that only those people who were opposing conversions were against reservation for the backward and deprived sections of society.
“Do they think that those who have converted are their personal property?”, asked the heavyweight MP, whose wife Ranjit Ranjan too is a Congress MP from the neighbouring Supaul Lok Sabha constituency. They are the lone MP couple in the 16th Lok Sabha.
While lashing out at Hindu outfits like Bajrang Dal and others opposing the screening of PK, he demanded a ban on them while suggesting that everyone should watch this “entertaining” movie.
“I demand a ban on Hindu outfits indulging in vandalism on movie theatres and burning posters of the film. Films are the mirror of society but organisations like Bajrang Dal are making this issue political for their vested interest”, he said while admitting that he watched the movie and found it a “complete entertainer with nothing objectionable”.
He said, he had also asked members of Yuva Shakti, a youth organisation formed by him, to confront those protesting the screening of the film and indulge in vandalism. “When BJP veteran L.K. Advani has found the film quite entertaining, why should not those who are protesting it?”, he asked.
Recently, the five-time MP, hit the headlines for waging a war against corrupt doctors fleecing poor patients in various ways in the State. He had even prescribed fees for the doctors as per their qualifications and degrees to charge from the patients. The doctors, though, have been opposing his move but the MP has been receiving a warm response from the locals wherever he held a people’s court to raise the issue.
“In the next two-three days, I’m also going to file a defamation suit against state BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi who had earlier said that the doctors of the State are frightened because of me. Giving such statements, he is tarnishing my image,” said Mr. Yadav who, earlier, was acquitted of the murder of former Purnea MLA Ajit Sarkar.
Asked about the political situation in the State, he said Bihar needed leaders such as Arvind Kejriwal and Mamata Banerjee “to make the functioning streamlined and corruption-free.”
