VHP holds ‘ghar wapsi’ for 500 tribal Christians
Yagnesh Mehta,TNN | Dec 21, 2014,
12.27 AM IST
“A yagna was performed and participants were given pendants with an image of Lord Ram,” said Valsad VHP secretary Ajit Solanki.
SURAT: The Vishwa Hindu Parishad claims to
have brought 500 people from 100 Christian families back into the Hindu fold in
a 'ghar wapsi' programme organized in the tribal Arnai village in Valsad on
Saturday. The organizers said that they did not take any permission and did not
violate any law.
READ ALSO: Let secular parties support
anti-conversion bill: Amit Shah
The VHP had earlier organized a similar event in November at Barumal village in
Valsad.
"A yagna was performed and participants were given pendants with an image
of Lord Ram. They discarded the pendants of another faith. We did not lure any
participant," said Valsad VHP secretary Ajit Solanki.
The participants were given a picture of Lord Ram and a Rudraksh necklace. They
were sprinkled with Ganga water and took a bath at a spring. District collector
Vikrant Pandey said that he has asked officials to inquire into the event and
submit a report. "As per the law it is mandatory that a detailed procedure
be followed for religious conversion. But to consider this event as conversion
or not is yet to get clear," he said.
"There is no information about tension and details are being
collected," said Superintendent of Police at Valsad Nipurna Toravane.
Addressing his
maiden press conference in Kerala after taking charge of the party, Shah denied
that his party had anything to do with the alleged attempt in UP to convert a
few Muslim families to Hinduism.
RELATED
KOCHI: BJP president Amit Shah on Satruday said
it was up to so-called secular parties to prove their sincerity on the issue by
supporting the bill against forcible conversion.
READ ALSO: VHP holds 'ghar wapsi' for 500 tribal Christians
Addressing his maiden press conference in Kerala after taking charge of the party, Shah denied that his party had anything to do with the alleged attempt in UP to convert a few Muslim families to Hinduism. He said an FIR has been filed in connection with the 'ghar wapasi' programme held in Uttar Pradesh and it was up to the courts to decide whether there was any forced conversion.
Shah sought to turn the tables on the BJP's opponents who have held up proceedings in Rajya Sabha on the issue of conversions by challenging them to support the Bill to ban conversions by coercion and allurement.
"The BJP has always been opposed to forcible conversion. The so-called secular parties must support the bill against forced conversion if they are sincere in their clamour against it,'' he said.
Replying to questions on whether BJP was willing to talk to minorities on the conversion issue, Shah said, "First let there be a consensus among political parties, and the question of talking to minorities can be taken up.''
READ ALSO: Christians slam 'ghar wapsi'
Shah dismissed the criticism of Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi that BJP was trying to divide the country on communal lines. "This is a criticism raised only by Rahul Gandhi and some Congress leaders as well as some sections of the media. There is no truth in those allegations.''
The BJP president reiterated his party's determination to bring back black money stashed abroad. During the first six months of coming to power, the NDA government at the Centre has done much more than what the Congress-led UPA government did in 10 years, Shah said.
Confirming that BJP will contest all seats in the local body elections in Kerala early next year as well as in the Assembly polls slated for 2016, he said things were looking up for the party in the state, where it has consistently drawn a blank in parliamentary and assembly elections over the years.
READ ALSO: VHP holds 'ghar wapsi' for 500 tribal Christians
Addressing his maiden press conference in Kerala after taking charge of the party, Shah denied that his party had anything to do with the alleged attempt in UP to convert a few Muslim families to Hinduism. He said an FIR has been filed in connection with the 'ghar wapasi' programme held in Uttar Pradesh and it was up to the courts to decide whether there was any forced conversion.
Shah sought to turn the tables on the BJP's opponents who have held up proceedings in Rajya Sabha on the issue of conversions by challenging them to support the Bill to ban conversions by coercion and allurement.
"The BJP has always been opposed to forcible conversion. The so-called secular parties must support the bill against forced conversion if they are sincere in their clamour against it,'' he said.
Replying to questions on whether BJP was willing to talk to minorities on the conversion issue, Shah said, "First let there be a consensus among political parties, and the question of talking to minorities can be taken up.''
READ ALSO: Christians slam 'ghar wapsi'
Shah dismissed the criticism of Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi that BJP was trying to divide the country on communal lines. "This is a criticism raised only by Rahul Gandhi and some Congress leaders as well as some sections of the media. There is no truth in those allegations.''
The BJP president reiterated his party's determination to bring back black money stashed abroad. During the first six months of coming to power, the NDA government at the Centre has done much more than what the Congress-led UPA government did in 10 years, Shah said.
Confirming that BJP will contest all seats in the local body elections in Kerala early next year as well as in the Assembly polls slated for 2016, he said things were looking up for the party in the state, where it has consistently drawn a blank in parliamentary and assembly elections over the years.
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Christians slam ‘ghar wapsi’
TNN | Dec 19, 2014,
01.00 AM IST
READ MORE Ghar Wapsi|Evangelical Fellowship Of India
NEW DELHI: Representatives of various Christian communities - Syro
Malabar and Syro Manlankar Catholics, Protestant Evangelicals among others -
said that there hasn't been an effective response to threat that minorities in
India were currently facing.
Addressing media on National Minorities Day, Christian community leaders said that despite attempts to reach out to him, the silence of the Prime Minister "wasn't very comforting." Community leaders also expressed their disapproval towards all anti-conversion bills and condemned 'Ghar Wapsi'
Reverend Vijeyesh Lal, director, Evangelical Fellowship of India, said instances such as the gutting of St Sebastian's church in Delhi and what happened at Gorakhpur yesterday spoke of "extreme police and administrative impunity."
According to Lal, 16 Christians, including four women, were picked up from a house where they were praying together in Gorakhpur on Wednesday at 10 am on charges of forcing people to convert to Christianity. They were allegedly kept inside lock up till 3 am today though none of the charges could be proved. Some pastors, said Lal, were still confines to the lock up.
"In case of St. Sebastian's church which we think is an act of malicious arson, we don't know how far the investigation has progressed and where it stands today despite appealing to the highest authorities," said John Dayal, member National Integration Council.
Christian representatives said they were strongly against 'freedom of religion' bill or any anti conversion bill as right to choose their faith was enshrined in India constitution. However they criticised the "well thought out campaign of 'Ghar Wapsi'" which they said was being carried out en masse through inducements of BPL cards etc. "Their [fringe elements and some senior members of Parliament] pronouncements question the identity and patriotism of India's several religious minorities," said Dayal.
The government had last week told Lok Sabha that it was in favour of anti-conversion laws in all states and at the Centre too, after being questioned on its stance on 'ghar wapsi' campaigns. Five states including Arunachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Odisha — currently have anti-conversion laws.
Dayal also said that the Christians are disappointed on the government's move to 'enforce' Good Governance Day celebrations on December 25, when Christmas is celebrated.
Community leaders said that they had submitted a memorandum describing their anxieties to various government representatives including Prime Minister, Home minister, Delhi LG on December 2, a day after St Sebastian's church was gutted but hadn't heard from anyone so far.
Addressing media on National Minorities Day, Christian community leaders said that despite attempts to reach out to him, the silence of the Prime Minister "wasn't very comforting." Community leaders also expressed their disapproval towards all anti-conversion bills and condemned 'Ghar Wapsi'
Reverend Vijeyesh Lal, director, Evangelical Fellowship of India, said instances such as the gutting of St Sebastian's church in Delhi and what happened at Gorakhpur yesterday spoke of "extreme police and administrative impunity."
According to Lal, 16 Christians, including four women, were picked up from a house where they were praying together in Gorakhpur on Wednesday at 10 am on charges of forcing people to convert to Christianity. They were allegedly kept inside lock up till 3 am today though none of the charges could be proved. Some pastors, said Lal, were still confines to the lock up.
"In case of St. Sebastian's church which we think is an act of malicious arson, we don't know how far the investigation has progressed and where it stands today despite appealing to the highest authorities," said John Dayal, member National Integration Council.
Christian representatives said they were strongly against 'freedom of religion' bill or any anti conversion bill as right to choose their faith was enshrined in India constitution. However they criticised the "well thought out campaign of 'Ghar Wapsi'" which they said was being carried out en masse through inducements of BPL cards etc. "Their [fringe elements and some senior members of Parliament] pronouncements question the identity and patriotism of India's several religious minorities," said Dayal.
The government had last week told Lok Sabha that it was in favour of anti-conversion laws in all states and at the Centre too, after being questioned on its stance on 'ghar wapsi' campaigns. Five states including Arunachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Odisha — currently have anti-conversion laws.
Dayal also said that the Christians are disappointed on the government's move to 'enforce' Good Governance Day celebrations on December 25, when Christmas is celebrated.
Community leaders said that they had submitted a memorandum describing their anxieties to various government representatives including Prime Minister, Home minister, Delhi LG on December 2, a day after St Sebastian's church was gutted but hadn't heard from anyone so far.
We are all Hindus now: RSS and its new and improved one-nation theory
by Sandip Roy Dec 13, 2014 09:51 IST
It’s not conversion. It’s ghar
vapsi or a return to home.
The RSS plans a mega event on
December 25 in Aligarh where they claim some 15,000 people will “return” to the
folds of Hinduism.
The very term “ghar vapsi”
makes the idea of “conversion” fuzzy because it can be presented as returning
to some kind of original state rather than a conversion to a different
religion. It helps to separate – however expediently - ‘reconversion’ from the
proselytizing of a missionary faith trying to increase its flock and presenting
its religion as the Chosen One. In fact the entire hullabaloo also allows the
BJP's Venkaiah Naidu to appear fair and even-handed when he says instead of the
outrage over the recent Agra “re-conversions” we should “introspect” and look
at the “national challenge” and have “anti-conversion laws in all states as
also at the Centre.” Likewise a ban on all loudspeakers at all places of
worship which would affect some groups way more than others.
The phrasing of “ghar vapsi”
is meant to show the kinder gentler face of Hindutva. This is not about scaring
minorities or showing them their place, but hanging out a sort of “Welcome
Home” banner, reminiscent of a grand school reunion. Time, in this case, is
elastic and immaterial. The returning prodigal son or daughter could someonewho
converted three years ago or whose forefathers converted three centuries ago.
“All Christians and Muslims
living in India today – at some point their forefathers were Hindu,” says VHP
leader Champat Rai to NPR. The objective here is to broaden the category of Hindu into a
big tent where everyone can fit – Dalits, Buddhists, Jains, Sikhs and even
Muslims and Christians. It sounds more like a genial host inviting everyone in
rather than the angry kar sevak of 1992 vintage pulling down a
mosque.
But the cat is let out of the bag
by people like RSS regional pracharak Rajeshwar Singh when talking about the Aligarhghar
vapsi to the Economic Times. “Aligharh was chosen because it’s time we wrest the Hindu city
from Muslims,” RSS regional pracharak Rajeshwar Singh tells ET. He
talks about Christmas as being a day of shakti pariksha or
test of strength and Aligarh being the city of the temples of brave Rajputs on
whose ruins Muslims built their institutions. The antagonism, the persecution
complex, the assertion of supremacy, the majoritarianism are all very much
there but just hidden under a sugar coating.
AFP.
That sugar coating allows RSS
chief Mohan Bhagwat to appear as almost generous in its embrace of everyone
else when he calls India a “Hindu nation”. It allows Narendra Modi to tellTimes Now the BJP manifesto mentions India as the natural home of
only persecuted Hindus because Hinduism is not a religion but a “way of life”
and he luckily could point to a 1995 Supreme Court judgement to bolster his
case. As Najma Heptullah, the BJP’s minister for minority affairs explained to
the Hindustan Times “Anything beyond the Hindu Kush mountains and on this side
of the Sindh river is Hind. In Persian they call it Hindustani… where the
people of India live.”
Thus Hindu becomes the dance of
seven veils. It’s a geographical term. A cultural term. A historical term. It’s
a way of life.
And occasionally, when
convenient, it’s a religion.
The actual ghar vapsi ceremony
is not the main aim but the photo-op moment of a shift in storyline. The shrill
paranoia about love jihad is just noise making. What’s really happening here is
the RSS and other like-minded organizations have seized this moment, with Narendra Modi as PM, to recast the
narrative. Instead of getting into the old debate about whether India is a
secular nation or a Hindu nation, it is in effect saying it can be both because
it’s broadening the very definition of what it means to be Hindu.
Hence, the continual need to reframe
the meaning of the very word. Therefore the drive to assimilate Dalits as
‘Hindu’ in the guise of advocating their interests. In a foreword to a new book
by BJP spokesperson Vijay Sonkar Shastri, RSS number 2 Bhaiyyaji Joshi writes that Dalits only became “untouchables” after “Arab, Muslim
rules and beef-eaters forced them to do abominable works like killing cows” and
“foreign rulers created a caste of charma karmas (dealing with skin) by giving
such work as punishment to proud Hindu prisoners.” What Joshi is basically
saying is that the Dalits who converted to Islam to escape the burdens of caste
were really made Dalit by the Muslim invader in the first place. So the Dalit
is part of the Hindu family. Even the Muslim convert (who is different from the
Arab ruler) can also come back to the family by ghar vapsi. By this
logic Hum do, hamara one billion.
Bhagwat turns Hindu into the
equivalent of Indian, a sort of passport identity rather than a marker of
faith. "The entire world knows that the people who live in India are
Hindus. Just as the Germans have Germany, the English have England, and
Americans have America. ... All the people of this country are Hindus,"
Bhagwat says. So Muslims, says Heptullah, should not be too “sensitive” if some
people call them Hindi or Hindu.
That could again be read as more
about being inclusive than exclusionary.
But it also means if you chose deliberately
to not identify as Hindu, by Bhagwat’s own logic you are choosing not to be
Indian. And then by extending it further to Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti you are
choosing to be a haramzada as opposed to a Ramzada. And as
Giriraj Singh, now minister, once made clear good Indians are ones who support
Modi, bad Indians are ones who oppose him and their home is Pakistan which
becomes not just a geographical nation state but the repository of everything
that is non-Hindu and thus by extension un-Indian.
This then is the really alarming
part of this re-positioning of the new and improved Hindu nationalist
discourse. It seems benign and tolerant but as distinctions between Hinduism
and Hindutva and Hindu way of life begin to blur so do the lines between
non-Hindu, non-Indian and anti-Indian. Followed to its logical end, according
to the rightwing world view, we are all Hindu – and everyone who is not a Hindu
is ipso facto an anti-Indian foreigner.
Bring back all converted Hindus, says RSS chief
PTI
Rashtriya Swayamsevak
Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat on Saturday called upon the Opposition to support the
enactment of law in Parliament to curb religious conversions.
Rashtriya
Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat on Saturday said those who left the
Hindu fold due to allurement by others should be brought back. “They went away
(to other religion) because of some allurement and thus there is nothing wrong
in bringing them back to original fold,” he said.
Speaking a rally
organised by the VHP in Kolkata, he said: “If conversion is wrong, then why not
pass a law in the Parliament against it stopping all religious conversions.”
Mr. Bhagwat insisted
that those who were converted earlier could be allowed to go back to their
traditional faith, but did not use the term ghar vapsi or homecoming,
popularised by the campaign of Sangh Parivar-affiliated bodies.
About 12,000 VHP
supporters and cadres assembled in Shahid Minar grounds on Saturday afternoon.
While it was a small gathering compared to Trinamool or Left standards, it was
the largest as far as VHP is concerned in the State. Many of the supporters
came from far flung areas of the district.
Realising a large
number of people had come from the border districts of Bengal, the senior VHP
leader Praveen Togadia said political parties should come together to create
“an infiltration free Bengal.”
“Those Bangladeshi
infiltrators who are entering Bengal are coming as invaders and any how such
infiltration should be stopped,” said Mr Togadia. Surprising many of his
supporters, he however did not connect the alleged infiltration to recent blast
in Bardhaman, which is linked to the proscribed militant groups in Bangladesh.
Neither he nor Mr Bhagwat alluded to ruling Trinamool Congress providing
shelter to members of such banned outfits. However Mr Togadia did ask his
supporters to stop cow slaughter which is a legitimate trade in Bengal.
“Take oath that we
will not let one cow to be slaughtered,” he said to supporters, many of whom
came from so called 'cow belt of Bengal' – the two 24 Paraganas.
In Parliament, PM Modi Confronts Opposition Demands for Statement on
Conversions
Finance Minister
Arun Jaitley responds to opposition protests as PM Narendra Modi watches
NEW DELHI: Attacking
the ruling BJP on religious conversions, a united opposition today demanded a
statement from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was present in the Rajya
Sabha. (Winter Session
of Parliament: Track LIVE Updates here)
Opposition parties led by the Congress insisted that PM Modi must reply to a discussion on "rising instances of communal violence" in the country, forcing repeated adjournments.
Congress leader Anand Sharma accused the government of displaying "arrogance" by not agreeing to their demand.
Opposition parties led by the Congress insisted that PM Modi must reply to a discussion on "rising instances of communal violence" in the country, forcing repeated adjournments.
Congress leader Anand Sharma accused the government of displaying "arrogance" by not agreeing to their demand.
RELATED
"The opposition
cannot dictate who will reply to a debate," said Finance Minister Arun
Jaitley, the leader of the house, asserting that Home Minister Rajnath Singh,
not PM Modi, would respond to the discussion.
Mr Jaitley said the Lok Sabha was functioning smoothly while the Rajya Sabha was not, and this indicated "arrogance of numbers, not the arrogance of the government."
Left MP Sitaram Yechury shot back that the Lok Sabha was functioning because of "tyranny of majority."
The government has faced protests in the Rajya Sabha - where it is in a minority - since the mass conversion of nearly 60 Muslim families in Agra in Uttar Pradesh last week, allegedly by groups linked to the BJP's ideological mentor Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). (Aligarh Conversion Ceremony 'Postponed' Hours After PM Modi's Warning)
Sources say the BJP has decided that it will not "not give an inch" on the demand for PM Modi's statement on religious conversions, after an assessment that the repeated calls for an intervention by the PM is an attempt to build a perception that he is not in control of members of his party and the government.
The conversions row stalled work in the first half of a day the government has set aside for its key reform, the Insurance Bill, which seeks to raise a cap on foreign direct investment in insurance to 49 percent.
There are four working days left of the Winter session of Parliament and the government needs to push a number of key legislation, including its other major reform, the Goods and Services Tax or GST. (Also Read -GST, Huge Reform and National Tax, Due Soon in Parliament: 10 Facts)
The government, said sources, is looking at the option of pushing the Insurance Bill, as an Ordinance or executive order after the session if the logjam does not end. The session ends on December 23, and most of the 22 sittings have been marred by opposition protests, especially in the Rajya Sabha.
Mr Jaitley said the Lok Sabha was functioning smoothly while the Rajya Sabha was not, and this indicated "arrogance of numbers, not the arrogance of the government."
Left MP Sitaram Yechury shot back that the Lok Sabha was functioning because of "tyranny of majority."
The government has faced protests in the Rajya Sabha - where it is in a minority - since the mass conversion of nearly 60 Muslim families in Agra in Uttar Pradesh last week, allegedly by groups linked to the BJP's ideological mentor Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). (Aligarh Conversion Ceremony 'Postponed' Hours After PM Modi's Warning)
Sources say the BJP has decided that it will not "not give an inch" on the demand for PM Modi's statement on religious conversions, after an assessment that the repeated calls for an intervention by the PM is an attempt to build a perception that he is not in control of members of his party and the government.
The conversions row stalled work in the first half of a day the government has set aside for its key reform, the Insurance Bill, which seeks to raise a cap on foreign direct investment in insurance to 49 percent.
There are four working days left of the Winter session of Parliament and the government needs to push a number of key legislation, including its other major reform, the Goods and Services Tax or GST. (Also Read -GST, Huge Reform and National Tax, Due Soon in Parliament: 10 Facts)
The government, said sources, is looking at the option of pushing the Insurance Bill, as an Ordinance or executive order after the session if the logjam does not end. The session ends on December 23, and most of the 22 sittings have been marred by opposition protests, especially in the Rajya Sabha.
'We will free India of Muslims and Christians by 2021': DJS leader vows
to continue 'ghar wapsi' plans and restore 'Hindu glory'
PUBLISHED: 03:45 GMT, 19 December 2014 | UPDATED: 03:45 GMT, 19
December 2014
Even as Opposition parties up the ante over
alleged incidents of religious reconversion, the Dharm Jagran Samiti has
declared that it will ensure India becomes a Hindu Rashtra by 2021.
Licence to stay
Speaking in Agra on Thursday, a Dharm Jagran
Samiti (DJS) functionary said Muslims and Christians will have to convert to
Hinduism if they want to stay in this country.
The DJS has been at the forefront of the
reconversion - or ‘ghar wapsi’ - programmes in recent times in which some
Muslims have been reportedly ‘reconverted’ to Hinduism.
Conversion has become a major political hot
potato with a few Hindu organisations holding ‘ghar wapsi’ ceremonies—the photo
shows one such exercise in Agra—to ‘reconvert’ Muslims
However, their action drew widespread
condemnation, leading to the arrest of one activist.
“Our target is to make India a Hindu Rashtra by
2021. The Muslims and Christians don’t have any right to stay here.
“So they would either be converted to Hinduism
or forced to run away from here,” Uttar Pradesh DJS head Rajeshwar Singh said.
He was reacting to the arrest of Nand Kishore
Valmiki, a DJS activist.
Valmiki was arrested on Tuesday for his alleged
involvement in forcefully converting over 100 Muslims to Hinduism in Agra.
Singh said although he has temporarily
suspended his ‘ghar wapsi’ programme in Aligarh and some other districts of the
state that were supposed to be held on December 25, it would be restarted soon.
The DJS leader claimed that those who have been
opposing ‘ghar wapsi’ were fearful of Muslims.
But, he would set India free from this fear, he
added.
“I belong to the Solanki sub-caste within the
Rajput caste. The Thakurs (Rajputs) respect me. I am their leader and they
follow my orders.
“The Muslims had converted Rajputs to Islam by
force. But the Rajputs are rising again.
“I will ensure that India is freed of Muslims
and Christians by December 31, 2021,” Singh said.
In Etah, Singh reiterated his stand, saying he
wouldn’t let Muslims and Christians convert the Hindus.
“We will not let them hunt the Hindus,” he
said.
“The enemies have tried many a time in the past
to finish Hinduism. But every time, Ram, Krishna and Chanakya came forward to
finish them and restore the glory of Hinduism.
“I am also doing the same.”
Explaining the DJS’ plans, Vishva Hindu
Parishad (VHP) secretary general Champat Rai told Mail Today: “We are of the
view that there are a handful of Muslims in India.
“Others within the Muslim community are
actually Hindus. Their ancestors were converted to Islam forcefully.
“Even writer Taslima Nasrin has said that her
ancestors were Hindus. The Batts, who are Muslims in Jammu and Kashmir, are
actually Bhatts, the Hindus.”
Rai claimed ‘ghar wapsi’ has been an ongoing
VHP campaign for the last 60 years.
A resolution in this regard was passed during
the 1966 Maha Kumbh in Allahabad, he said.
“We have re-inducted over six lakh people into
Hinduism since 1966.
“Mahatma Gandhi, Savarkar and Swami Dayanand
Saraswati had expressed their concern over religious conversion.
Uttar Pradesh DJS head Rajeshwar
Singh claimed that those who have been opposing ‘ghar wapsi’ were fearful
of Muslims
“They believed it was poisoning the society.
Bringing them back to their original religion means correcting the wrong.
"It is the appropriate time now to take it
up on a bigger scale,” he added.
A Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) leader told
Mail Today that they have formed committees in every district of the state for
this purpose.
“We have included some Arya Samaj priests in
the team because they issue a certificate to a converted person.
"This is a major document to prove that
the converted person agrees to it,” he said.
'Independent'
When asked about the posture of the Modi
Government on this issue, he said: “We never ask Modi or any other BJP leader
before chalking out our strategy.
“We only expect them to speak for or against us
to clarify their stand. But Modi is the Prime Minister.
“So his silence means his approval. It is the
right time for us to fulfil our agenda.”
UP minister Azam Khan said: “RSS is behaving
like the Taliban. They don’t want the Constitution of India.
“They have their own agenda of finishing
humanism.”
Meanwhile, reacting sharply to the DJS
statement, Congress general secretary Digvijaya Singh said: “DJS is a wing of
RSS, which had supported Modi and the BJP during the Lok Sabha elections.
“They are now drifting away from the agenda of
the NDA.”
He dared the Modi Government to either accept
the activities of DJS or “show some guts” and disband it.
Modi stands firm despite challenges from Rajya Sabha
By Amit Agnihotri
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has rejected the
Opposition’s demand that he reply to the ongoing debate in the Rajya Sabha on
alleged forced conversions.
His decision emboldened the ruling dispensation
to blame the Opposition’s “arrogance of numbers” for the ongoing logjam in the
Upper House that threatens to derail the Government’s economic reform agenda.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley pointed to the
“smooth functioning” of the Lok Sabha, saying the Rajya Sabha hold-up points to
“arrogance of numbers, not the arrogance of the Government”.
+6
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is said to be
upset with the Opposition after he made a statement on the Sadhvi Niranjan
Jyoti controversy, but the logjam in the Rajya Sabha continued despite his
address to the House
The Opposition hit back, saying the
Government’s “tyranny of majority” had ensured that the Lower House functioned
smoothly despite nine parties “fighting tooth and nail on the issue of
conversions”.
While the Government has a brute majority in
the Lower House, the Opposition has an upper hand in the Rajya Sabha.
Prime Minister Modi is said to have asked the
Government to remain firm in the face of the Opposition’s attack on conversion,
and suggested explaining its position directly to the people.
Nine opposition parties have kept the
Government on its toes by not letting the Rajya Sabha function for the past
four days, seeking the PM’s statement on the controversial issue of
conversions, wherein Muslims have been “reconverted” to Hinduism by way of
“ghar wapsi” ceremonies.
+6
FM Arun Jaitley said Congress in the Rajya
Sabha were suffering from the 'arrogance of numbers'
The PM came to the Upper House on Thursday as
it was the designated day he was supposed to answer questions related to
ministries under him, but there was no word from him on the Opposition’s demand.
Sources said the PM had made a statement in
both houses of Parliament earlier in the session, ticking off his junior
colleague Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti for her controversial remarks, but that had not
led to smooth functioning of the House.
The “betrayal” by the Opposition, sources said,
was playing on the PM’s mind and is what drove him to ask his team to remain
firm.
“The PM has confidence in his ministers. If he
feels the need to intervene on any issue, he will, but not under the
Opposition’s threat,” a Union minister said.
The Government sources, however, acknowledged
that given the deadlock, the Winter Session, which ends December 23, might end
without key reform Bills related to insurance and coal sectors passing muster.
The Government’s strategy now is to break the
united Opposition camp to make the most of the three working days left in the
session.
They hope that the move could help it pass at
least the insurance Bill which aims to increase the FDI cap to 49 per cent.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/indiahome/indianews/article-2879597/We-free-India-Muslims-Christians-2021-DJS-leader-vows-continue-ghar-wapsi-plans-restore-Hindu-glory.html#ixzz3MVScNLIb
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
Agra
conversions main accused surrenders
IANS | Dec 16, 2014, 12.17PM IST
AGRA: The main accused in the religious
conversion case here that has rocked parliament, Nand Kishore, surrendered
Tuesday, police said.
Kishore was the most wanted accused named in the FIR and carried an award of Rs.12,000.
Police have been looking for him for the past few days and had pressurised his family members also for his surrender.
Kishore was the most wanted accused named in the FIR and carried an award of Rs.12,000.
Police have been looking for him for the past few days and had pressurised his family members also for his surrender.
Ghar Vapasi in Agra: Mid-term elections in UP behind RSS conversion
drive?
by Ratan Mani Lal Dec 17, 2014 14:35 IST
The pattern is clearly visible and here’s the
motive. The BJP is expecting mid-term election in Uttar Pradesh and the spate
of conversion incidents in the state by Sangh Parivar outfits has been
announced keeping that in mind.
At a meeting held by the state BJP working
committee in Uttar Pradesh's Mirzapur last Saturday and Sunday, the state BJP
president Laxmikant Bajpai had told the gathering to be prepared for a mid-term
election.
He had told partymen to organize street
protests and demonstrations to highlight the state government’s
"failure" to check the deteriorating law and order situation in the
state. According to a BJP leader, the coming days could see the situation
taking a turn for the worse. The planned re-conversions in this month and the
one in January could heighten the communal temperature in the state. It’s
going to be a two-pronged attack — one led by the BJP on issues of
governance and the other by Sangh Parivar on polarizing topics.
Representative
image. Reuters
The state government has understood the design
but appears clueless on how to deal with it, particularly the second one. Right
now, the Akhilesh Yadav government is
approaching it as a law and order problem. On Tuesday, the police in Gorakhpur
foiled an attempt by the Hindu Yuva Vahini to convert 15 Muslim families to the
Hindu fold. The programme was named a sahbhoj (community
lunch).
However, policemen surrounded the venue since
morning and did not allow the programme to proceed. Later, the state HYV
president Sunil Singh was arrested and several others were also detained as
they staged a noisy demonstration in protest against the arrest.
The HYV activists involved in the programme
said that the participants were to be given a copy of the Sunder Kaand of the
Ramayan after a sacred thread was tied on their wrists and a tika was applied
on their foreheads. The BJP MP from Gorakhpur Mahant Adityanath was supposed to
be present on the occasion but he was not in Gorakhpur on the day.
The controversy over the 8 December ‘ghar
vapasi’ re-conversions of about 70 Bengali-speaking Muslims in Agra has not
settled yet even though the state police claimed that the mastermind behind the
ritual held in a Dalit-dominated locality of Agra has been arrested.
Even as the state law and enforcement machinery
was bracing itself for tackling the fall-out of a large scale re-conversion in
Aligarh on 25 December, the announcement by various Hindutva-driven outfits
about planned re-conversions in eastern UP on coming days has put the police on
high alert.
The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), Bajrang Dal
and Hindu Yuva Vahini (HYV) are reported to have prepared a blueprint for
facilitating the homecoming of more than 2000 individuals on 18 December. These
prospective ‘converts’ include 2000 Christians while the rest are Muslims.
These rituals are planned for Gorakhpur and Ghazipur, both in eastern UP. The
reports came close on the heels of news that the BJP MP from Gorakhpur Mahant
Adityanath had presided over the conversion of 40 families of Kushinagar to
Hindu fold about six months ago.
A Home department official said that the police
had been directed not to allow religious conversion ceremony on Christmas
or any other day. The police in Aligarh have been told to be on their
toes as the place has a substantial Muslim population. “No event will be
allowed on 25 December, whether it is conversion or anything similar to it,” a
senior police officer was quoted as saying.
While the state government has sent a stern
warning to all district magistrates and superintendents of police to prevent
such conversions, the confidence with which the VHP, HYV and Bajrang Dal
activists are going ahead with the preparations indicate a much bigger and
ambitious plan to create trouble for the Akhilesh Yadav government in the
state.
Following the directives of the state’s Chief
Secretary in this regard, the police in Agra on Tuesday arrested Nand Kishore
Valmiki, who had organized the reconversions on 8 December 8 in Agra.
The participants in the Agra fiasco had alleged
that they had been called for a meeting where they were promised ration cards,
but the organizers ‘tricked’ them by asking them to chant some shlok, tied a
sacred thread on their wrists and put a tika on their foreheads.
Incidentally, Uttar Pradesh does not have a
specific anti-conversion law and if any case of unusual conversion is reported,
the police generally book those resorting to forcible or fraudulent conversions
under Sections 153A (promoting enmity between different groups), 295A
(Deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings), and
505(2) and 505(3) (Statements creating or promoting enmity, hatred or ill-will
between classes) of the Indian Penal Code.
Although the police claim they would not allow
such rituals to be held anywhere,
Members of the Muslim community also view the spate of conversion and ghar wapasi incidents as a ploy to keep the communal pot boiling in the state. “It looks like an obvious attempt to destabilize the present government,” said a community leader Athar Husain, adding that the issue of conversions or reconversions as such was not important since it had been happening for years. “The fact that such things are happening with planned regularity indicates a design,” said the Husain.
Members of the Muslim community also view the spate of conversion and ghar wapasi incidents as a ploy to keep the communal pot boiling in the state. “It looks like an obvious attempt to destabilize the present government,” said a community leader Athar Husain, adding that the issue of conversions or reconversions as such was not important since it had been happening for years. “The fact that such things are happening with planned regularity indicates a design,” said the Husain.
Lure of ration cards
led to Agra 'reconversion'?
Ishita Mishra, TNN | Dec 10, 2014,
01.50AM IST
The RSS organized a mass
ceremony and reconverted more than 200 Muslims to Hinduism in Agra on Monday.
AGRA: A day after a group of around 200 Muslims
in Madhunagar slum-cluster here claimed they had "reconverted" to
Hinduism, many of them on Tuesday said they were still Muslims, with some
admitting that they had joined the RSS and Bajrang Dal-organized 'ghar vapsi'
ceremony after being promised ration cards and houses. The saffron outfits,
though, rubbished this claim, saying there was no inducement for
"reconversion".
Farhan, a slum dweller, said, "If 40 people in saffron scarves come and stand on your head, you will do just as they want." Farhan was among those who had taken part in the puja, washed the feet of Hindu gods and also briefly worn vermillion on his forehead. On Tuesday, though, he said it was all for getting those men in "saffron scarves" off his back.
The re-conversion event was painted as "ghar vapsi" or re-conversion of Muslims who had Hindu ancestry. It was organized by the Dharma Jagran Samanvay Vibhag, an offshoot of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and Bajrang Dal. A 'shuddhikaran hawan' was also performed in the slum.
Farhan, a slum dweller, said, "If 40 people in saffron scarves come and stand on your head, you will do just as they want." Farhan was among those who had taken part in the puja, washed the feet of Hindu gods and also briefly worn vermillion on his forehead. On Tuesday, though, he said it was all for getting those men in "saffron scarves" off his back.
The re-conversion event was painted as "ghar vapsi" or re-conversion of Muslims who had Hindu ancestry. It was organized by the Dharma Jagran Samanvay Vibhag, an offshoot of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and Bajrang Dal. A 'shuddhikaran hawan' was also performed in the slum.
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