.. Rajagopal had contested election to the Mysore Vidhan Sabha, from the reserved constituency of scheduled castes. Although he was Adi Dravida by birth he had been baptised as Christian in 1949. For that reason the opposite party contended that Rajagopal could not stand for election from that constituency. The court rejected the claim of Rajagopal that he became Adi Dravida again in 1967 and declared the election void.
.. The Supreme Court judges were Justice Shah and Justice Bhargava, both Hindus, who perfectly knew that conversion and reconversion to Hinduism are established facts and quite in vogue ... The Supreme Court has not questioned the reconversion to Hinduism by Rajagopal by simply declaring himself to be Hindu ... Hindutva by mere declaration was admitted by both the courts. The Supreme Court said:
"It must, therefore, be held that, when the appellant got converted to Christianity in 1949 he ceased to belong to the Adi Dravida caste ... The burden lay on the appellant to establish that on reverting to the Hindu religion by professing it again, he also became once again a member of the Adi Dravida Hindu ... the appellant has ailed to establish that he became a member of the Adi Dravida caste after he started professing the Hindu religion ... Whether the membership of a caste can be acquired by conversion to Hinduism or after reconversion to Hinduism is a question on which we have refrained from expressing our opinion, because even on the assumption that it can be acquired, we have arrived at the conclusion that the appellant must fail in this appeal. The appeal is consequently dismissed with costs."
The court has not denied either conversion or reconversion to Hinduism by mere declaration. If Rajagopal had produced a resolution of the Adi Dravida caste Panchayat re-admitting him in the caste the matter might have been very different ... But he could give no such proof or evidence. His Hindutva was not at all questioned by the courts ... (Source: The Organiser, 21 June, 1998)