Church leaders avers conversion claims 'politically motivated'

Swami Narendra Maharaj's claims to have converted over 2000 Christians to Hindu fold on April 27, in Shimpoli, is seen as a political game by the Church leaders in the country.

Denying claims of forceful conversion by Hindu fundamentalists, Archbishop Felix Machado, speaking to UCA news said, the conversion story has "a hidden agenda to seek publicity by claiming to convert a large number of tribal Christians."

Archbishop Machado, who heads the Archdiocese of Nasik said, no one from his diocese became or converted to Hindu. "Our parishes and mission stations attached to them have personal rapport with each Catholic through schools, social work and other excellent infrastructure," he said.

The archbishop who served as an undersecretary of the Pontifical Council for Inter–religious Dialogue recalled meeting former Indian prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee at the Vatican when Vajpayee met with Pope John Paul II in 2000.

He told UCA news that he "challenged the pro–Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (Indian people's party) politician to prove the Church indulged in forced conversions in India."

Father Peter Almeida of the Vasai diocese and Bishop Fernandez from the Bombay diocese, also agrees the fact that the conversions, were politically motivated, either to win votes for the upcoming elections or to intentionally subdue the Christians, for their active role in the society.

Ram Punyani, a Hindu and secretary of All India Secular Forum, called the mass re–conversion claim "bogus." He told UCA News the event was a "preparatory act to whip up sectarian sentiments to strengthen the Hindu vote bank." Swami Maharaj's disciples, he recalled, recently attacked two Catholic nuns near Alibag, south of Mumbai.

The event holder of the recently held re–conversion ceremony has however denied the event was ‘fake’ and accused the missionaries for indulging in conversion activities by force, fraud and allurements to convert poor and illiterate tribal people.

According to Narendra Maharaj, Hindus are declining in number and sooner or later will be rendered a minority. “There is no other nation that embraces Hinduism; we have no place to go, unlike Christians and Muslims,” he said. “Nepal was the only country that supported Hinduism, but now the Maoists have taken over and declared it a non–religious country.”

The conversion topic has become one of the most controversial issues in India. On account of "forceful conversions," thousands of Christians were attacked in Orissa, last year.