New Delhi, June 5: The national chairman of All India Confederation of SC/ST Organisations Ram Raj stated here on Tuesday that adoption of Buddhism cannot be termed as religious conversion.

The Confederation’s Dhamm Vahan, which started its journey from Delhi on April 14 this year is currently on the move in Bihar. Its journey is to conclude in the capital in October and the aim of the exercise is to get atleast 10 lakh persons to adopt Buddhism.

Talking to the media persons here Ram Raj said, “Adopting Buddhism cannot be termed as religious conversion because Buddhism is a religion that was born in India and our ancestors were all followers of Buddha. It is a religion of our ancestors and our culture. Adopting a foreign religion might be termed as conversion but not Buddhism.”

Talking about the Dhamm Vahan launched by the confederation, he said that it has got tremendous response in Uttar Pradesh and is right now moving in Bihar. The Vahan will move through Jharkhand, West Bengal, Orissa, Chattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana and then return to Delhi. Upon its return the Confederation plans to hold a massive rally. Ram Raj described the exercise as a social movement and not a political one. Talking upon the increasing influence of casteism in politics, he said that casteism is a social reality and politics is a reflection of society. The problem can be done away by going to its roots and for that a social change is required. He said that right now the need is to change the mindset of Dalits and to remove their inferiority complex.