In an attempt to end the practice of caste discrimination and untouchability, the Vishva Hindu Parishad has succeeded in training 5,000 Dalits as priests across the country, as per their national spokesperson. He added that many such priests have also been taken into government-run temples.
“We have achieved a huge success in southern India. There is a large number of Dalit priests in southern states. In Tamil Nadu alone, 2,500 priests have been trained due to the efforts of the VHP. There are a large number of Dalit priests in Andhra Pradesh also. The VHP has achieved a huge success in the training of 5,000 Dalit priests,” he said.
Two wings of this organisation are an active part of this movement, and constantly ensure training in the conduct of different religious rituals to the Dalits interested in religious matters. They are even provided certificates at the end of their training.
The Vishwa Hindu Parishad has been working against abolishing caste discrimination five years into its inception in 1964. The decision to help end untouchability was taken at a VHP convention in Udupi in Karnataka in 1969, where Hindu seers had sent out a message that ‘all Hindus are brothers and no one is untouchable’.