LUCKNOW: Dehri, a small nondescript village around 35-40 km from the Jaunpur district headquarters in eastern UP, is in the limelight for a rare phenomenon.Dehri is predominantly a Muslim village with over 7000 Muslims and 5000 Hindus living together in perfect harmony for ages. Suddenly a new trend is emerging in the village. Around 70 Muslims of the village have added ‘Brahmin’ surnames to their names. However, they claim that they have not reconverted to Hinduism.Naushad Ahmad of this village in Kerakat tehsil has drawn obvious attention when he mentioned his name as Naushad Ahmad Dubey on his daughter’s wedding card. In the same village lives Pandey ji or Irshad Ahmad Pandey who stays just two houses away from Naushad Ahmad Dubey.Many others like Naushad and Irshad are following the same practice by adding the surnames Mishra, Pandey, Tiwari to their names.“We started this practice around two years back when we came to know about our genuine ancestry. We got to know that we all were Hindus who got converted many generations ago,” says Naushad Ahmad with a saffron stole around his neck.He adds that on tracing his roots, he learned that his forefathers especially Lal Bahadur Dubey had converted to Islam eight generations back and became Sheikh.
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