Row in Indian Parliament on Religious ‘Reconversion’

Religious conversions have become a lightning rod in recent months with the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s rivals demanding that he rein in religious groups affiliated to his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) trying promote a Hindu-dominant agenda. A massive row over religious ‘reconversions’ hit work in both houses of the Indian Parliament on Wednesday and Thursday as the opposition raised slogans demanding a discussion in the Parliament.

Opposition parties shouted slogans in the Lok Sabha (Lower house) demanding the government's explanation on the conversions in Agra on Monday, reportedly by groups linked to the ruling BJP's ideological mentor RSS or Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). "If the ruling BJP is not involved, then it should at least stop these conversions. All opposition parties should come together against this. Conversions in Aligarh and other places will lead to communal problems all over the country," said BSP Chief Mayawati.

The BJP has denied any role in the conversions, but some of its MPs have defended what they describe as "ghar vapsi" (homecoming). Money, food, and ration cards to obtain state subsidies were allegedly promised by radical Hindu Bajrang Dal in order to convert 57 Muslim families - about 300 people - to Hinduism. The ‘ghar-wapsi’ ceremony, the ‘return to home’ as the fundamentalists call it, was held in Agra on Monday, December 8, and it is only the last such of a series that have taken place in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.

The families involved are composed mostly of poor people from Bangladesh. "We were asked to attend the event - said some - in order to receive ration cards and to enroll our names on the voters list. We did not know it was a conversion ceremony." Others knew what was coming, but "we underwent pressure and were afraid. They made us wash the idols of a Hindu goddess and forced us to say we were happy," they said. "We are poor people - one of them added - if our employers sacked us we would have nowhere to go. What we could do but say yes?"

An FIR or police complaint has been filed against the Agra conversions based on a villager's allegation that 57 Muslim families chosen from a rag-pickers' colony were given inducements like I-cards for welfare schemes to convert to Hinduism. The ceremony was allegedly organized by activists of the Bajrang Dal and Dharam Jagran Samanvyay Vibhag and featured chanting by priests and a havan (ritual fire place).

In the meantime, a BJP MP Adityanath has declared that he will go ahead with a similar event in Aligarh on December 25 to convert Christians and Muslims. The RSS has "promised" a great Ghar Wapsi ceremony for the occasion to be held at Maheshwari College in Aligarh, during which 4 thousand Christian families and 1,000 Muslim families of Aligarh will ‘return’ to Hinduism. "This is not conversion but ghar wapsi. Those who want to join can come," Adityanath said on Wednesday.

“Aligarh was chosen because it’s time we wrest the Hindu city from Muslims. It is a city of brave Rajputs and their temples on whose remains Muslim institutions have been established,” said RSS regional pracharak Rajeshwar Singh.

Christmas was chosen as the day for conversion because the event is a “shakti pariksha” (test of strength) for both religions, said Singh. “If their religion is better, they can stop them. It is a test for both of us. If they come to us on Christmas, it is the biggest rejection of the faith.”

The news has pushed the opposition (led by Congress) to demand a parliamentary inquiry asking the  Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Hindu ultranationalist party at the helm of the central government to clear the air on the issue. The BJP is in fact hand-in-glove with groups like the Bajrang Dal and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) both of them perpetrators of violence against ethnic and religious minorities in the country.

The government has said it is open to a detailed discussion in the house. "We want detailed discussion too, but not chaos and targeting of the government," said Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu. Mr Naidu also said his government was ready to consider an anti-conversion bill if the opposition was "sincere". This however appears to be part of a larger saffron agenda of curbing freedom of conscience and religion in the name of an anti-conversion law, with stringent provisions, bringing under state control even genuine religious conversions.

Later in the day, opposition parties like Samajwadi Party walked out when Venkaiah Naidu, in his reply to the debate, said "RSS is a great organisation of this country. It believes in selfless service. I feel proud of my RSS background."

Parliament was paralyzed for most of last week after a government minister made derogatory remarks about non-Hindus. Modi rejected demands to sack her, saying she had made a public apology and that she was from a rural background and a first-time MP.  

The Minister of foreign affairs had followed soon after demanding the ‘Bhagavad Gita’, religious scripture of the Hindus be declared ‘National scripture’, drawing widespread condemnation from the opposition quarters who claimed that it was not possible under a secular constitution.

The BJP government was once again left red-faced and sought to distance itself from a new controversy, after a Congress lawmaker alleged in Parliament Thursday, that Mahatma's Gandhi's assassin Nathuram Godse was honoured at a function in Maharashtra and a BJP lawmaker Sakshi Maharaj said outside Parliament that Godse was a "patriot," just as Gandhi was. He was quick to retract his statement saying “If I said something wrong, I take it back. I don't consider him a patriot.” Nevertheless his earlier statement has been the position of most right wing Hindu groups.

To add to the controversy, an undated letter has emerged in which the Dharam Jagran Samanvyay Vibhag urges its members to raise money for conversions, saying, "50 programmes are being planned and over the year, one lakh need to be converted."

(Sources: NDTV, Reuter, Matters India, AsiaNews)