Opinion - Letters to the Editor

A just weapon

Sir,— In her article (Open Page, Dec. 3) Hilda Raja says that the threat of conversion which the Dalits now and then raise "has become a ransom to demand this or that." But this is the weapon which the weak use to defend and win their dignity and rights. She thinks that justice could be done to the Dalits just by promoting proper social awareness, a change of attitude and effective recourse to judiciary. The ground reality is totally antagonistic to the awakening of the Dalits in every way. The writer goes to say that there is discrimination among the Dalits themselves. By this she seems to say that the Dalits have no right to protest against the discriminations they are facing from Hindu society. Similarly, she has also questioned the right of the minorities, especially Christians, to protest against the anti-conversion law because they are not free from Dalit discriminations.

I do not justify the existing discriminations in some places. But if the Dalits have really found the discriminations against them within the Church as bad as their previous religion, they would have walked out of Christianity.

P. Arockia Doss,

Chennai

Sir,— This has reference to the letters on the article by Mr. Kancha Illaiah. It is noteworthy that my friends are still unable to see the other side of the Hindu religion, how the Dalits were and are being ill-treated every day by the upper caste and how they were denied the social status and opportunities for decades.

M. Vinod Babu,

Hyderabad

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