Hundreds of Dalit and Tribal Christians ‘reconverted,’ claim Hindu hardline groups

New Delhi – Hindu right–wing outfits, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP or World Hindu Council) and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) have claimed to have ‘reconverted’ hundreds of Dalit and Tribal Christians in Orissa and Uttar Pradesh and have openly threatened to attack Christian missionaries who are active in these states, Christian Today has confirmed.

According to national daily, Pioneer, the hardline groups have claimed that during a ‘reconversion’ ceremony held in Orissa recently, over 200 Christians belonging to the Bonda tribe willingly ‘reconverted’ to Hinduism.

The ceremony, which allegedly took place on October 3 in Khariarpur village of Orissa's Malkangiri district area, was supposedly conducted by a Hindu monk by the name of Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati.

Over 5000 tribals attired in their traditional dress had witnessed the ceremony, the newspaper stated.

VHP and the RSS leaders have also claimed to have ‘reconverted’ thousands of Dalit Christians in the district of Etah near Agra, Uttar Pradesh on October 2.

Whereas the Pioneer puts the figure of those ‘reconverted’ around 1800, the Press Trust of India (PTI) has put the figure around 3500. However, such numbers could not be verified.

According to the Additional District Magistrate (ADM) of Etah district, Vijay Singh Pal, he had no information of such a ceremony having taken place and refused to confirm it as the newspapers failed to mention the specific locations where ‘reconversion’ ceremony took place.

According to media reports, the Dharma Raksha Samiti (DRS or Religion Protection Committee), a cadre of youths owing allegiance to the VHP, has also launched a “district–wide campaign” to “embrace” Tribal and Dalit Christians of the northern states of India.

This group has allegedly taken hold of 40 churches and plans to transform the churches into temples of Maharishi Valmiki, the writer of the Hindu epic, The Ramayana, the local media reported.

The Pioneer has also quoted VHP leaders as saying they aim “to bring back at least 80,000 Christian within the Hindu fold next year.”

According to a survey made by the VHP, out of 638,000 Dalits who are living in Agra, over 200,000 have already converted to Christianity.

However, according to Indrajit Arya, regional co–coordinator of the Hindu Jagran Vibhag, an arm of the VHP, a large number of Christian converts still followed Hindu customs even after their conversion.

“The women still observe the karwachauth fast [an annual fast carried out by wives for their husbands], the cross on their neck notwithstanding,” he said.

According to news sources, the VHP has already “reconverted” more than 18,000 Dalit Christians in the region over the past year.

Arya has also accused Christian missionaries of “misleading” Dalit Hindus, especially those from the Valmiki community, forcing them to “convert to Christianity.”

“These Christian converts want to reunite with their heritage that they had lost by assuming Christianity,” he said. “Many people, who had been Christians for two–three generations, now want to re–embrace Hinduism, along with their children, who were born Christians.”

Arya stressed that the Valmiki community “had always been considered untouchable and the missionaries took full advantage of this fact by promising lucrative terms like financial security and social equality.”

“The Valmiki community of Agra was being misled by the missionaries for far too long," he said. “We have taken up this task of ‘reconversion’ only a few years back.”

According to a leading national daily, The Times of India (TOI), the ceremony of October 2 in Uttar Pradesh was led by Yogi Adityanath, a Member of Parliament (MP) from the state's Gorakhpur district, controlled by the Hindu nationalist Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) and the VHP. Adityanath is also the head of a regional Hindu extremist group, the Hindu Yuva Vahini (HYV) or ‘Hindu Youth Group’, founded in 2002 with the aim to reconvert Hindus who converted to other religions.

Yogi Adityanath has sold over 14,000 copies of a promotional audio cassette entitled, ‘Yogi ji ki sena chali’ or ‘The Saint’s Army is Marching,’ which reportedly contains anti–Christian slogans and a tirade against Christian missionaries and is a part of a massive campaign to oust the religious minority community from the state.