Odishatv Bureau

 

Koraput: Congress MLA from Koraput Krushna Chandra Sagaria and his family members formally embraced Buddhism today at a special function at Burja village under Laxmipur block of the district.

The ceremony was attended by hundreds of devotees from Koraput and Buddhist monks from Chhattisgarh, Raipur and Nagpur.

Apart from Sagaria’s family, 100 more families embraced Buddhism during the ceremony.

Buddhist monk Bhonte Buddhaghosh initiated the conversion process. The MLA’s pledge was preceded by customary rituals—“Trisharan” and “Panchseel Shikshya.”

Although Sagaria himself did not cite any reasons for the conversions, sources said that he was pained with the atrocities and discriminations on SC STs. Moreover he believes that Odisha was the state that promoted Buddhism and it should continue to do so, sources said.

Responding to a question on whether he will involve himself in promoting Buddhism, the Congress MLA said, “I have no such plans as of now.”

It is not clear if Sagaria, who represents a Scheduled Caste constituency, will be able to hold his reserved category status.

 

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