As conversion row rages on, Adityanath says will go to Aligarh on Christmas

Mangalore Today News Network

New Delhi, December 11, 2014: Despite a massive controversy around the alleged conversion of nearly 200 Muslims into Hinduism in Uttar Pradesh’s Agra district earlier this week, a defiant Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh on Thursday said it will continue with another - and bigger - ceremony planned in Aligarh on Christmas this year.

 

While the BJP has denied its role in the Agra conversions, the party’s firebrand MP Yogi Adityanath has said that he will go to Aligarh on December 25 for what the right-wing groups call a ’Purkhon ki ghar vapsi’ (Coming home of the ancestors) ceremony. "This is not conversion but homecoming. My program is in Aligarh and it will happen - those who want to return voluntarily will be welcome," Adityanath said today as his party confronted a furious opposition in Parliament.

Senior RSS ideologue M G Vaidya defended the controversial ceremony, saying, "Let us not call this conversion. It is reconversion since all Muslims and Christians in this country were Hindus once." The RSS is the ideological mentor of the ruling BJP at the Centre.

Meanwhile, an FIR lodged against the conversions organized on Monday in Agra only names one Kishore Valmiki, a villager who allegedly informed the families about the ceremony. "Arrest is the next step. We will not allow forced conversions," Ram Gopal Yadav of the ruling Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh said.

What happened in Parliament on the conversion row?

As opposition members protested in Lok Sabha on Thursday, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Venkaiah Naidu said the government has no objection in discussing the matter. "Conversion and reconversions are serious matters. We welcome a debate on the issue," he said.

The opposition Congress has also given a notice for discussion on the issue in Rajya Sabha, which witnessed a massive protest on Wednesday too with the opposition demanding an explanation from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government.

The opposition Bahujan Samaj Party and Congress sought to corner the government over the issue, saying changing religion by force and by allurement was illegal. The government, however, washed its hand-off the issue saying law and order is a state subject.

Raising the issue, Mayawati said the RSS-affiliate Bajrang Dal converted some Muslim families to Hinduism in Agra by force and by allurement. "This is a serious matter as allurement was given to poor to get them converted," she said, adding that a similar exercise is being planned in Aligarh by the month-end where more Muslims and Christians will be converted to Hinduism.

"The government should take serious note of the Agra incident... strict action should be taken," she said, warning that such forced conversions will create and breed communal tension in the country.

CPM’s Sitaram Yechury said PM Modi should come to the House and clarify on the issue. "India is a secular democratic republic and it will remain so. If attempts are made to change it, you will not remain but India will remain," he said.

Minister of State for Minority Affairs, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, objected to the RSS being mentioned in the case, saying it was not appropriate to take name of the organisation for "political reasons" and the Chair should expunge the same. "It is wrong to drag any organisation into this due to political reasons." The RSS is the ideological mentor of the ruling BJP at the Centre.

Were the Muslim families in Agra misled into conversion?

Meanwhile, the 57 Muslim families in Uttar Pradesh’s Agra district, who the RSS on Monday claimed to have "converted" to Hinduism, have said that they were misled by Dharma Jagran Samanvay Vibhag and Bajrang Dal activists into believing that the event was for BPL cards and not for religious conversion.

"We did not know anything about it. We were forced to convert our religion. We were promised that our IDs will be made. We were just asked to dress properly. The men were asked to wear skull caps," a woman at Madhunagar slum area of the city said.

The Bajrang Dal and the Dharma Jagran Samanvay Vibhag, an RSS offshoot, on Monday claimed to have converted the families into Hinduism at a ’Purkhon ki ghar vapsi’ (Coming home of the ancestors) ceremony, where the right-wing groups said they were able to bring more than 200 Muslims "back to Hinduism".

 

Courtesy: Indiatoday