Clerics, civic officials slam Valmikis for "stooping low" to save their houses from demolition.

The row over Dalits threatening conversion to Islam to save their houses against demolition drive by civic body has taken a curious turn.

When Dalit families approached local Islamic scholars and clerics to supervise their alleged conversion, they refused to oblige terming their wish to convert to Islam as “blackmailing tactics” and “unIslamic”.

Most of the clerics told the protesting Dalits that one should convert out of “pure” love for the religion and threats to become a Muslim cannot be used as a “blackmailing tactics” against official action of demolition drive by the civic body.

The Rampur civic body had, last week, identified 55 houses of Topkhana Valmiki basti, a Dalit settlement, as part of its demolition drive after which the residents had threatened conversion to Islam. What followed since then is high drama as the political parties and Hindutva groups jumped the fray to target Azam Khan, the Samajwadi Party leader from Rampur.

Dalit leaders told The Hindu that they were unable to convert after no Muslim cleric turned up at their area to facilitate their conversion. Kumar Eklavya said that as a symbolic protest they started sporting skull cap.

“We have not been converted yet, as some news papers have reported. No cleric accepted our invitation. Most of them told us that they didn’t approve of what we are doing and decision to convert to Islam should be taken out of sincere likeness of the religion and not to save houses against official action of demolition drive. But we have no option left,” Eklavya told The Hindu on phone from Rampur.

“It’s status quo for now. We will continue with our protest by sporting skull caps,” he added.

The issue became complicated when the dalits who were earlier threatening to convert at “any cost” came under pressure from the Hindutva groups after Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader Sadhvi Prachi threatened to mobilise people against the proposed conversion.

The Rampur District Magistrate Chandra Prakash Tripathi made several visits to the locality and assured them that the houses won’t be demolished. But the dalit families said they would postpone their plans to convert only if they get the assurance in writing.

"Those who are using threat to convert, lost their case in the court as well. In Rampur, the majority of those evicted from government lands are Muslims, so there is no point communalising the issue and vitiating the atmosphere of the city,” Azam Khan’s aide Fasahat Ali told The Hindu.

Interestingly, nobody knows the connection between their Dalit’s threats to convert to Islam and saving their houses from demolition. The Dalits claimed that somebody from the civic body told them that their house might be spared if they were to convert to Islam. But when The Hindu tried to verify the claim, civic body officials alleged the dalits were “just trying to blackmail as conversion to Islam will soon snowball into a huge controversy and will pose law and order problem for the administration.”