New Delhi: The Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) is set to discuss religious conversions across the country when its apex body, the Kendriya Margdarshak Mandal, meets at Prayagraj on 20 January.
The mandal decides on the VHP’s future course of action on issues.
According to sources, the meeting at Prayagraj will be attended by over 300 sants from across the country and will be chaired by Sant Shankaracharya and other top VHP office- bearers.
The sources added that the issue of religious conversions, especially in southern states such as Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala, will be taken up.
The meeting is also likely to discuss “ghar wapsi” (reconversions) of all those who had converted earlier and “want to come back to the fold again”.
“The meeting will discuss the present situation of the country and decide on the future action to be taken by the society, particularly in relation to the religious conversions,” VHP spokesperson Vinod Bansal. “At the same time, it will also discuss the discriminatory provisions of the Constitution, such as Articles 29 & 30.”
Both articles of the Constitution guarantee rights to minorities in the country. Article 30 allows minorities to establish and administer educational institutions.
“Apart from this, the meeting will also discuss cultural upliftment and construction of Ram mandir and other relevant issues deemed fit by the sants,” Bansal added.
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VHP may submit memorandum to PM on issue
According to another officer-bearer of the organisation, the VHP will take a call on whether to submit a memorandum to the Modi government or launch a campaign of its own against religious conversions.
This meeting follows the three-day VHP Central Council and Pranyasi Mandal meet in Mangaluru in December. During that meeting, the VHP had issued a statement that the Andhra Pradesh and Telangana governments were “crossing all limits to appease Muslims and Christians”.
In October last year, a VHP leader had claimed that they had “reconverted 25,000 Muslims and Christians to Hinduism in 2018”. On 9 January, the Akhil Bharatiya Sant Samiti’s general secretary Swami Jitendranand had written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi asking him to end reservations granted to Dalits and OBCs who have embraced Christianity or Islam.
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