Conversions cauldron: Islam’s new children in Tamil Nadu

When news of the mass conversion of Harijans to Islam in Tamil Nadu spread through the country last month, it was received with surprising alarm. Minister of Slate for Home Affairs, Yogendra Makwana, promptly rushed to Tirunelveli, Madurai, Ramnad, Thanjavur and Kanyakumari, the five districts from where they had been reported. Delegations from the Arya Samaj and other Hindu organisations followed in his wake. In one sense, the hectic to-ing and fro-ing was needless. The country’s secular Constitution, after all, guarantees the freedom of religion, and a person’s faith is not the concern of the slate unless he is subjected to force or fraud. “Nobody will have any objection if anybody changes his religion voluntarily” Prime Minister Indira Gandhi told last week’s news conference. “But what is obviously objectionable is if people’s poverty and hardships are exploited for conversion.”

What made the issue all the more contentious were allegations that the conversions in Tamil Nadu were fuelled by money sent in from Arab countries. Chief Minister M.G. Ramachandran promptly jumped into the fray to deny this, saying that the conversions of Harijans to Islam was an old phenomenon in the state, but Makwana sought to make political capital by charging that the state Government was maltreating the local Harijans, thereby forcing them to embrace Islam. Said Janata Party MP Syed Shahabuddin, “The issue is being blown out of proportion. It is none of the state’s business to check conversions. There is no evidence that conversion is being done with the use of force. And, when have conversions not been taking place in this country? Almost 95 per cent of Indian Muslims are descendents of converts.”

The Arya Samaj thinks differently. Om Prakash Tyagi, secretary of the Sarvadeshik Arya Prathinidhi Sabha, who as MP introduced an anti-conversion bill in Parliament, led a six-member fact-finding mission to Tamil Nadu. Asserts Tyagi: “Foreign money is behind these conversions.” In evidence, he cites a news report allegedly in a Kuwait daily to the effect that money was sent to convert 50 Indian families.

The Arya Samaj is itself into the business of religious conversions. It is the only Hindu sect which sanctions conversions and readily lends a hand to Muslim girls wishing to marry Hindu boys by converting them. According to sources, the Arya Samaj has been converting an average of eight to 10 girls a month at its Dewan Hall headquarters near the Red Fort, Delhi. The Arya Samaj claims to have re-converted 38 people in Tamil Nadu to Hinduism, with another 14 likely to return to the fold soon.

The Arya Samaj view is backed by the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) which believes that money is being used to influence Harijans who get a raw deal at the hands of caste Hindus. Says Ashok Singhal, RSS provincial organiser for Delhi and Haryana, “It is time that all religious chiefs of various Hindu sects joined hands to resurrect confidence in Hindu society against any kind of vulnerability. Harijans have for long faced humiliation; efforts should be made to win back their confidence.”

Much of Singhal’s worries are justified in view of the reported move, funded by the Gulf countries, to convert at least one million Harijan families into Islam every year. The London-based Islamic Cultural Centre recently circulated a report which said that 50 Harijan families had been lured to Islam simply by a grant of Rs 400,000 for an agricultural project. The expectation was that the sword of Islam, liberally lubricated with oil from the Gulf, would cut a deep swathe across the lower strata of the Hindu society, raising the Muslim population from 80 million to 200 million at the end of the decade.

In Hyderabad, for example, a few hundred maulvis fan out of the city every year and scout around villages for people willing to embrace Islam. From a meagre 50 such cases before Independence, the number of conversions has now gone up to 500 a year.

The allegation that money power is behind the conversions is strongly countered by Ejaz Ahmad Aslam, the English lecturer-turned-businessman who is now president of the Tamil Nadu unit of the Jamaat-e-lslami Hind. “No money is involved in the conversion,” he said. “The Harijans have taken the initiative on their own. The Jamaal has not organised these conversions.” At the same time, says Aslam, “We don’t disapprove of it. Rather, we encourage it, we have full sympathy for those who are doing it and will continue to extend all support to those who have joined our fold.” He describes it as the biggest conversion in the history of Tamil Nadu – about 2,000 – and argues that it is easier to conduct such conversions in the south because of the movement against caste Hindus launched by E.V. Ramaswami Naicker as long ago as 1921.

In order to investigate the truth behind the reports, Picture Editor Raghu Rai and Correspondent Raj Chengappa last fortnight visited and spoke with a wide range of villagers, converts and those opposing them. Their report:

“I want equality. Muslims treat me equally. So I became a Muslim.”

—Syed Mohammed, 40, formerly Sethu, a Harijan of Athiyuthu village, Ramanathapuram, Tamil Nadu

It is easy to explain why Harijans are converting to Islam. It is more difficult to say whether they will benefit from the move. But benefit or not, conversions are taking place with increasing momentum in Tamil Nadu. Last fortnight, another 100 families in Ramanathapuram district took shelter under the crescent of Islam, ostensibly to extract themselves from the crushing stigma imposed by Hinduism. And what was regarded as only a small insignificant trickle when 200 Harijan families embraced Islam last February in neighbouring Tirunnelveli district broadened into a river of conversions in Ramanathapuram and is threatening to engulf the state with Harijans in Salem and Thanjavur giving the call to their brethren to follow suit.

Alarmed by the flood of conversions, Tamil Nadu cabinet ministers have been visiting these villages with conspicuous regularity. A concerned Central Government first sent down Central Bureau of Investigation sleuths to probe the matter and last fortnight Yogendra Makwana, Union minister of state for home flew down from Delhi to make an on-the-spot study. Next week, the State Federation of Hindu Organisations plans to launch a state-wide yagna to check conversions and eradicate untouchability.

It was hardly surprising that the conversion syndrome should spread to Ramanathapuram district after the mass conversions in Tirunnelveli. In April there were serious riots between Harijans and the caste Hindus in Ramanathapuram. Trouble started when a few Harijan students were said to have teased a caste Hindu girl. What followed was a week of intermittent clashes between the two sections of the populace which was finally quelled when the police opened fire killing two people. Five hundred people—300 Harijans and 200 caste Hindus—were arrested and released on bail. But even after peace was restored relations between the two sides remained embittered.

Spreading fever: But strangely enough, Harijans in the worst affected villages only threatened to change their religion but did not actually do so. However, in Athiyuthu, a tiny hamlet untouched by the riots, 37 out of 60 Harijan families embraced Islam. It was only then that the conversion fever spread to the nearby villages of Veeravanoor, Peruvaya, Sitharakottai, Melamadai and Maravaikundi where another 60 families changed their faith.

While police atrocities against them was the main reason put forward by the converted Harijans, this argument is untenable in Athiyuthu where not even a single villager was arrested. Yet this village was the first to give the lead and it has the largest number of converts.

Of the 350 families who inhabit this tiny village, 17 kilometres from Ramanathapuram, 250 are Muslims. Of the remaining 100 families, 65 are Harijans. There are only 35 upper-caste Hindu families in the village. But irrespective of caste all the Hindus are poor and live in thatched huts. The Muslim community, on the other hand, appears to be flourishing. Their gaudily painted, concrete-roofed houses are in stark contrast to the dilapidated dwellings of the Hindus.

What stood out most when India Today visited Athiyuthu was the beautiful marble-white mosque that is visible for miles from the village. The mosque which was built several decades ago has been freshly painted for the mass conversion ceremony. Hardly 50 metres away from it was a rundown temple dedicated to the goddess Kali.

The men of the village were mostly clothed in grubby dhotis and, understandably in the heat, were shirtless. The women wore faded sarees. Their tired faces and haggard appearance were visibly different from a group of Harijan converts who sported obviously new, black Muslim caps and decked in clean shirts and colourful lungis, exuded the pungent smell of oriental musk. The Harijans’ wives were not wearing burqas as this custom is not followed among Tamil Muslims and the women only cover their hair with their sari pallav—nobody needed to tell us that the saris they wore were new.

Deep resentment: When asked what his new name was, a short, dark, clean shaven man wearing a white dhoti, a terry-cotton shirt and a brand-new black cap replied: “Allahapaksha.” A pause. “No. No. That’s my father’s name. My name is Nagoremeer.” A shame-faced grin. “Nagu”, as he was known before, said fervently, “I hate Hindu religion. We are not allowed into temples. But in Islam there is only one God: Allah. Whether we are rich or poor we are treated equally in the mosque.” Is that the only reason? “No. Hindus don’t let us eat with them. But with Muslims I not only can eat at the same table with them but I can walk into their house freely.” Were you given money for conversions? A pause and then a hot denial: “Nonsense. Who will give us money? We have to spend our own money to get ourselves converted.”

Syed Mohammed or Sethu, a sturdy man who was wearing a new printed shirt, is the leader of the Harijans. He led us to his thatched hut where his wife and children peeped from behind the windows. They were coaxed to come out. His wife covered her hair, which was combed full-back in the style of the Muslim women in the village, and sat uneasily in the background. One of their sons squatted on her lap. She asked her other son to bring out his cap.

Sethu became emotional when asked his reasons for changing his religion: “Press reports said that the riots were between Harijans and caste Hindus. Aren’t we Hindus?” A relevant question but then the riots had not affected their village. “We are physically fit and educationally equal. Why are we being treated badly? Why don’t the Hindus allow us to run a shop in the town? Whenever we open one they don’t buy anything from our shops. But Muslims treat us equally.”

Why not become a Christian? “Even among Christians there are caste problems. We have Nadar Christians, Harijan Christians and so on. Again we will be discriminated against.” But won’t you be losing the concessions you enjoy as Harijans from the Government? “Concessions are only on paper. If we have to get anything done we have to pay bribes. What’s the use? We finally get nothing.”

What does his wife feel about being converted? A shy Nazirbee, formerly Poomaliamma, replied: “When I prayed in the temple I had no feelings because I could not even enter it. But praying to Allah gives me peace.” Does your family observe all Muslim customs now? “Yes, we pray five times a day. In the evening we sit around and read the Quran.” Has being a Muslim helped? “Yes. Now I can get water at 4 a.m. Before I had to wait till all the Hindus drew water.” Do you think other Muslims would marry your children? “1 have no worries about that. I don’t care right now. I am only happy to be a Muslim. It’s better than being a Harijan.”

Simple ceremony: The actual conversion is a simple ceremony. The alim or high priest from Killakarai, a nearby village, is called. Seated on the ground facing each other the alim places the Quran in the hands of the would-be convert. The alim then reads out several verses from the Quran and asks him to repeat it. When this is over he places a cap on the converted Harijan. He then reads out six names and asks him to choose one. The ceremony is closed with another prayer.

Circumcision of the penis is not done immediately. The converts later go in batches of five to the town doctor. This is the part the converts are most afraid of and they are usually accompanied by H.M. Arif, a former panchayat president who, it is said, is one of the key persons behind the conversions. At the hospitals the converts wait anxiously for their turn. When one of them vomits after the operation it takes all of Arif s persuasive power to send the others to the theatre. The other menfolk come later to the hospital to see how their brethren are faring.

While the local Muslims seem to have no objections to the Harijans entering their fold, the caste Hindus in Athiyuthu are extremely concerned about it. Said Panchavarma an unshaven caste Hindu who wore only a dirty lungi around his waist: “We are extremely worried. We don’t see why they should have changed their religion. We were like brothers and we did not show much discrimination. Of course, certain customs have been there for years and we can’t change them immediately.” And they complain that the converted Harijans are now scorning them. Said Nalichami: “After conversion they don’t speak to us properly. If we call them they don’t even look at us. They just turn their faces and go away. We are angry and hurt.”

Official view: Alleged B.R. Navasakthe, president of the Ramanathapuram Ryots Sangham, “The whole thing is stage-managed.” The Muslims in Athiyuthu and Killakarai are said to be supporting the Harijans. There are flourishing businessmen amongst them with known business connections in the Gulf. In fact Killakarai is one of the richest villages in Ramanathapuram district and the Muslims are known to be connected with the South Indian Islamic Society, an association which is meant to promote Islam and was instrumental in coverting the Tirunnelveli Harijans. Concluded the official, “It is obvious that money power was the main motivating factor.” Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.G. Ramachandran had hinted at this when, in a speech in Madurai recently, he termed the conversions as “ridiculous” and said it was done by the Harijans to improve their “socio-economic conditions”.

But whatever the role money has played in “Operation Conversion,” its fever has not subsided a bit. Harijans in surrounding villages have announced their intention to embrace Islam. Harijans who refused to change their religion in the villages where conversions have already taken place are facing increasing pressure to do so. In Athiyuthu the converted Harijans boycott those who have not changed their faith. It may not be long before they follow suit. And in the process they may well create yet another area of contention and controversy in a land already riven by dissension.

Courtesy : India today

Note: This news piece was originally published in indiatoday.in and used purely for non-profit/non-commercial purposes exclusively for Human Rights .