New Delhi: Vishwa Hindu Parishad has reiterated its demand to the government to bring stringent laws against conversion in the country. The reaction comes after media reports of an unprecedented surge in the number of churches and converted Christians in some districts of Punjab like Amritsar, Gurdaspur and Firozpur where the number of conversions have increased substantially in the past couple of years.
Speaking to ETV Bharat, Vishwa Hindu Parishad national spokesperson Vinod Bansal said that the organisation is aware of the situation and their local units are already active in different states including Punjab to stop these conversions which are either forced or by fraud.
"We have been running a movement against such conversions where innocent Hindus are lured on the pretext of cash, jobs, marriage. Christian missionaries have been doing this for a long and they are especially growing in the Congress-ruled states. Last month the Chief Minister of Punjab was to visit Changai Sabha in Moga but after criticism, he cancelled his visit to the sabha. These Changai Sabha are also involved in mass conversions and they do so by running false propaganda" said Vinod Bansal.
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It has been observed that conversions are at large in regions where the population belongs to the underprivileged section of society.
"It's not that the missionaries only are running social services. RSS and VHP have been serving people for years and we are working in tribal areas where even government could not reach. We run more than one lakh Ekal Vidyalayas in tribal areas and multiple service works are being done through thousands of branches of the RSS and the VHP. Missionaries don't stand before us when it comes to social services. The only difference is that they do it with the motive of conversion but our motive is only service. Conversion is a conspiracy against the nation," Bansal added.
Organisations like VHP and RSS have been working on a counter plan to stop the mass conversion of Hindus. Through awareness drives, they ask people to stay with their roots. At the same time, they also appeal to those converted to come back to Hinduism, the religion they were born into.
Amid the rising number of expose on such conversion rackets spread across the country, VHP last month ran a 10-day long drive to spread awareness against such fraudulent conversions.
"We are working on dual strategy, the one is to stop those who are converting and the second is to bring back those who got converted. We convince them for 'Ghar Wapsi' and also help them if they are in need. Punjab has a rich culture and people there will also work to connect with guru parampara. I appeal to people of Punjab to not get into the trap of such missionaries," Bansal said.
READ: 'Ghar wapsi' for 251 Christian families in remote Gujarat village
For running conversion rackets on such a large scale, such missionaries need huge funding, the VHP Spokesperson alleged, adding that such organisations have been misusing the FCRA for decades and getting their funding from overseas also.
VHP considers the situation as alarming and as said by Vinod Bansal, they have already activated their units even in remote villages of different regions to keep an eye over such practices.
