RSS & VHP call religious conversion a form of ‘violence’, to launch campaign to curb it

Under the campaign, VHP workers will conduct door-to-door visits in tribal areas to educate people about Hindu religion. It also wants a law to halt conversion.

A VHP rally | Representational image | via Facebook

New Delhi: The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and its affiliate Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) are gearing up to launch a nationwide campaign to curb religious conversion in the tribal dominated states of the country.

Under the campaign, VHP workers will conduct door-to-door visits in tribal areas to educate people about the Hindu religion and make them aware about it. The RSS will provide its support to the cause.

“VHP’s campaign to halt the religious conversion will start soon after completion of the fundraising programme for the Ram Mandir. A decision regarding this will be taken by the seers in the meeting of VHP’s Central Guidance Board (next month),” said VHP spokesman Vinod Bansal.

“Religious conversion is a form of violence. It is violent because it alienates the people from their original culture, traditions and their roots,” said VHP central general secretary Milind Parande.

Parande also said there is an urgent need to bring a legislation to halt conversion. “In this regard, we are having discussions with many state governments that this kind of violence should be stopped by formulating a new law,” Parande said.

“We will also present a demand before the central government that converted Christians and Muslims should not get the benefits reserved for the SC, ST communities. This will amount to violation of the rights exclusively meant for the SC, ST community,” added Bansal.

According to him, more and more cases of religious conversion are being reported from the tribal dominated areas of Jharkhand, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Jammu and Kashmir, West Bengal and Maharashtra.

A senior RSS functionary said the Sangh wants its affiliate to become more active on this issue. “Currently the VHP has not been active since the commencement of Ram temple’s construction. That is why the Sangh’s leadership wants the VHP to become more active on the issue of curbing the menace of rapidly growing religious conversions among the tribals,” he said.

“During this campaign RSS will also play an equal role alongside the VHP,” added the functionary.

Decision taken in presence of RSS chief

The decision to launch the campaign was taken in Bhopal last month during a meeting of 45 senior functionaries of the RSS family, including Sarsanghchalak (chief) Mohan Bhagwat, Sarkaryavah (chief executive) Bhaiyya Ji Joshi and VHP international vice-president Champat Rai.

The leaders discussed issues such as incitement and conversion of tribals by Christian missionaries and Leftist organisations throughout the country ahead of Census.

During the meeting, it was decided that the RSS will launch a nationwide campaign with active participation by the VHP.

“There was a discussion in this meeting regarding the Census to be held in 2021 in which the Christian and Leftist organisations are inciting the tribals to cite their religion as Kabirpanthi, Gond or any other alternative option,” said a senior RSS office bearer who participated in the meeting.

“Such organisations are also misrepresenting and/or distorting the facts of an epic like Ramayana. It is being said that ‘you (the tribals) are the descendants of Vanar Raj Bali. Lord Rama killed Bali by deceit. Bali was a tribal and not a Hindu, so the tribals should not refer themselves as Hindus’,” he said on condition of anonymity.

The campaign

According to a senior office bearer of the VHP, separate teams will be formed to run this campaign from the national level right down to the rural levels.

“They will tour the tribal dominated areas to make them aware about the reality. Apart from this, special literature will also be prepared which will reveal that the entire tribal society is an integral part of Hinduism and they should not be misled by anyone,” said the office bearer who didn’t wish to be named.

Bansal said in the last 56 years, VHP’s efforts have prevented religious conversion of about 62 lakh Hindus across the country, and facilitated re-conversion (ghar wapsi) of around 8.50 lakh people.

The RSS and its affiliate organisations are increasingly engaging in campaigns to stop religious conversions and awakening the cultural consciousness among people.

Under one of their campaigns called ‘Hari Satsang’, 12,000 young men and women are trained to tour villages in states like Jharkhand and narrate stories related to Lord Rama (Ram Katha), Lord Krishna (Bhagwat Katha) and other Hindu devotional songs (Bhajans). They also speak about cow protection and Ayurveda, according to Lallan Sharma, central co-campaign chief of Ekal Abhiyan.

Apart from this, the VHP volunteers are set to start a fundraising campaign across the country for the construction of Ram temple in Ayodhya. The body is printing coupons, in the denomination of Rs 10-100, and leaflets for this purpose, said a source.

The VHP officer bearer said the Hindu body will also launch a mass awareness campaign against ‘Love Jihad’. “During this, people will be told about how to expose the ‘Love Jihad’ cases and how to save their girls,” he said.