10-15-2006, 05:51 AM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->'Won't convert till made PM'
Ramu Bhagwat
[ 15 Oct, 2006 0043hrs ISTTIMES NEWS NETWORK ]
NAGPUR: BSP leader Mayawati on Saturday doused cold water on the mass conversion
rally organised by All-India Christian Council and All-India Confederation of
SC/ST Organisations on World Freedom of Religion Day by marching off and holding
a parallel meeting which attracted huge crowd.
Contrary to expectations of thousands of Dalits embracing either Buddhism on
Christianity, only around 600 people changed their religion.
But for Mayawati, the conversion programme, organised on the occasion of the
golden jubilee of B R Ambedkar's conversion to Buddhism in 1956, would have been a success, a Dalit leader told TOI.
Responding to her critics who had been questioning her refusal to embrace
Buddhism to follow the path of Ambedkar, whose legacy she claims to be carrying
forward, she told a crowd of 40,000, unprecedented in non-election season, that
she would not convert till she achieved the goal of becoming the first Dalit
prime minister of India.
Just four days after her mentor Kanshi Ram's death, she said she would not
rest till she became the first Dalit prime minister.
But while she uttered these words, she was not her usual fiery self. She
fumbled and trembled while justifying her stand to remain a Hindu, in front of
the crowd.
"This question of why I or my mentor, the late Kanshi Ram, did not adopt
Buddhism has been raised time and again," said Mayawati."Kanshi Ramji had said
his first preference would be attaining political power before thinking of
conversion. I am respecting his last wish. So I will not convert till I achieve
political control of the country," she said.
"This question of why I or my mentor, the late Kanshi Ram, did not adopt
Buddhism has been raised time and again," said Mayawati."Kanshi Ramji had said
his first preference would be attaining political power before thinking of
conversion. I am respecting his last wish. So I will not convert till I achieve
political control of the country," she said.
"He had a vision of attaining power at the Centre by the 50th year of Ambedkar's
Deeksha to Buddhism and then change his faith. But, unfortunately that dream has
remained unfulfilled. Now, I have taken a vow to attain his goal. Only after
achieving that will I embrace Buddhism," she added.
Mayawati also justified her plans to associate with higher Hindu castes saying
that whoever deplored the abhorrent caste-system and helped her in empowering
the downtrodden, was welcome into her party."This is the only way to achieve the
mission on which Ambedkar set forth," she declared.
Lakhs of Ambedkar followers had assembled at Deekshabhoomi, on the outskirts of Nagpur, on the occasion. Her rally was held five km away from that spot, at
Indora. She, however, visited the Ambedkar memorial.
Mayawati has been, of late, trying to strike a political balance by trying to
expand her party's hitherto only Dalit, backward class base, to embrace upper
castes and even Brahmins, in the Hindi heartland.
Dalit leaders, mainly those of the Republican Party of India, who have been
watching helplessly as she took over their political space, had been targeting
her and questioning her right to espouse the Dalit-Buddhist cause as she refused
to adopt Buddhism, like her ideal, Ambedkar.
Earlier, there was commotion when rallyists, after burning copies of
anti-conversion laws also tried to set ablaze an effigy of Gujarat CM Narendra
Modi. But, the police intervened to control the situation and rally leaders Udit
Raj and Jospeh D'Souza pacified their volunteers.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/artic...171934.cms<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
The usual suspects are behind this (the Church and their stooges).
Ramu Bhagwat
[ 15 Oct, 2006 0043hrs ISTTIMES NEWS NETWORK ]
NAGPUR: BSP leader Mayawati on Saturday doused cold water on the mass conversion
rally organised by All-India Christian Council and All-India Confederation of
SC/ST Organisations on World Freedom of Religion Day by marching off and holding
a parallel meeting which attracted huge crowd.
Contrary to expectations of thousands of Dalits embracing either Buddhism on
Christianity, only around 600 people changed their religion.
But for Mayawati, the conversion programme, organised on the occasion of the
golden jubilee of B R Ambedkar's conversion to Buddhism in 1956, would have been a success, a Dalit leader told TOI.
Responding to her critics who had been questioning her refusal to embrace
Buddhism to follow the path of Ambedkar, whose legacy she claims to be carrying
forward, she told a crowd of 40,000, unprecedented in non-election season, that
she would not convert till she achieved the goal of becoming the first Dalit
prime minister of India.
Just four days after her mentor Kanshi Ram's death, she said she would not
rest till she became the first Dalit prime minister.
But while she uttered these words, she was not her usual fiery self. She
fumbled and trembled while justifying her stand to remain a Hindu, in front of
the crowd.
"This question of why I or my mentor, the late Kanshi Ram, did not adopt
Buddhism has been raised time and again," said Mayawati."Kanshi Ramji had said
his first preference would be attaining political power before thinking of
conversion. I am respecting his last wish. So I will not convert till I achieve
political control of the country," she said.
"This question of why I or my mentor, the late Kanshi Ram, did not adopt
Buddhism has been raised time and again," said Mayawati."Kanshi Ramji had said
his first preference would be attaining political power before thinking of
conversion. I am respecting his last wish. So I will not convert till I achieve
political control of the country," she said.
"He had a vision of attaining power at the Centre by the 50th year of Ambedkar's
Deeksha to Buddhism and then change his faith. But, unfortunately that dream has
remained unfulfilled. Now, I have taken a vow to attain his goal. Only after
achieving that will I embrace Buddhism," she added.
Mayawati also justified her plans to associate with higher Hindu castes saying
that whoever deplored the abhorrent caste-system and helped her in empowering
the downtrodden, was welcome into her party."This is the only way to achieve the
mission on which Ambedkar set forth," she declared.
Lakhs of Ambedkar followers had assembled at Deekshabhoomi, on the outskirts of Nagpur, on the occasion. Her rally was held five km away from that spot, at
Indora. She, however, visited the Ambedkar memorial.
Mayawati has been, of late, trying to strike a political balance by trying to
expand her party's hitherto only Dalit, backward class base, to embrace upper
castes and even Brahmins, in the Hindi heartland.
Dalit leaders, mainly those of the Republican Party of India, who have been
watching helplessly as she took over their political space, had been targeting
her and questioning her right to espouse the Dalit-Buddhist cause as she refused
to adopt Buddhism, like her ideal, Ambedkar.
Earlier, there was commotion when rallyists, after burning copies of
anti-conversion laws also tried to set ablaze an effigy of Gujarat CM Narendra
Modi. But, the police intervened to control the situation and rally leaders Udit
Raj and Jospeh D'Souza pacified their volunteers.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/artic...171934.cms<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
The usual suspects are behind this (the Church and their stooges).