Will quit Sanatan Dharma en masse if not reinstated: 153 sacked workers warn MP civic body

Ashoknagar (MP), Oct 14 (PTI) More than 150 daily wage employees of Chanderi Municipality in Madhya Pradesh's Ashoknagar district have threatened to renounce the "Sanatan Dharma" and embrace some other religion en masse after Diwali to protest their removal from service.

Stating that the decision to sack them was taken last month, they sought Chief Minister Mohan Yadav's intervention in the matter, and demanded that the authorities reinstate them within 10 days.

These 153 daily wage employees reached the Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) office on Tuesday and applied for permission to convert en masse, alleging that they were removed from service after the local MLA, municipal chairman, the civic body's vice chairman and most of the councillors colluded, leaving their families on the verge of starvation.

In response to their conversion warning, Chanderi SDM Shubhrata Tripathi told them, "No competent authority will allow this. It is your discretion." The application submitted to the SDM stated that the decision to remove the employees was taken at a special municipal meeting held on September 23.

Satyam Mishra, one of these employees, told reporters that 12 of the 16 councillors agreed to their removal under pressure from the local MLA.

Most of the sacked workers had been serving since the last many years, and more than 95 per cent of them were followers of Sanatan Dharma, he said.

"If the employees are not reinstated in the municipality within the next 10 days, they will be forced to collectively renounce the Sanatan Dharma and adopt other religions," Mishra said.

The employees were taking this step with a heavy heart, and that the entire responsibility could lie with the local MLA, Municipal Chairman, Vice Chairman, and all the councillors who decided to remove them, he added.

The CM should intervene in the matter, he said, adding that if appropriate action is not taken, they will convert en masse after Diwali.

Under Article 25 of the Indian Constitution, the freedom to profess, propagate and practise religion is guaranteed. However, no person shall be compelled to impose his or her religious beliefs on anyone. PTI COR MAS NP