New Delhi: 250 Muslims belonging to 40 families of a village in Haryana, converted to Hinduism before cremating an 80 year old woman of the village. They said that they followed Hinduism and were muslims for the namesake. Their ancestors were hindus and these families of Bithmada used to live at Danoda Kalan village before Independence.
This came after a local resident Satbir converted to Hinduism to do the final rites of his 80 year-old mother Phooli Devi, as per Hindu norms. He has said that he belonged to the Doom caste whose families had adapted Islam during the rule of Aurangzeb, the Mughal Emperor. He also denied any foul play or efforts at forced conversion. The other villagers neither raised any objection nor did they criticize them.
“We celebrated all Hindu festivals and followed all rituals, but only continued to bury our dead. We belong to the Doom caste and all the villagers have supported us in our Endeavour. It was only when some one of our own died that we looked different, as otherwise we led a Hindu way of life,” Satbir said.
A man from the village, Majid believes that earlier the people of his society were not educated; they did not know the old things. “Now many people are educated and they have convinced everyone to do this (change religion). It is only when we bury our dead that the villagers looked at us differently. Therefore, looking at the future of children, we decided to convert,” he said.
Muslim Welfare Organization state president Harfool Khan Bhatti said he had news about the Danoda Kalan incident village but did not know much about Bithmara village. “The conversion of Danoda Kalan village happened to avail the benefit of the scheduled caste category as they belong to the Doom caste,” he said.
“Doom caste has been kept in SC category, but according to a 1951 notification, Muslims and Christian citizens of Doom caste cannot avail the reservation benefit,” he said. Khan further added, “When the case of Mohammad Saddiq, who became an MLA on Congress ticket from a reserved seat in Ludhiana, went to Supreme Court, he won the case by saying that he was Mazhabi Sikh and not a Muslim.”
