Christian missionaries converting poor people by promising them good living standard is a major menace all over the world. India has been one of the top targets of the Christian missionaries. A recent case of a conversion racket has emerged in Uttar Pradesh. According to an Indian Express report, On Wednesday, Jaunpur police following a court directive on Wednesday (5 September) filed an FIR against 271 people for spreading misinformation about Hinduism, and for trying to convince people to convert to Christianity.
As of now, three priests have been identified by the police- Durga Prasad Yadav, Kirit Rai and Jitendra Ram- and rest of other people have been mentioned as their associates. The police registered FIR after a Hindu Jagran Manch (HJM) worker filed a petition.
Advocate of the petitioner, Brajesh Singh, told that accused were trying to convert people from the districts of Jaunpur, Azamgarh, Varanasi and Ghazipur in Uttar Pradesh. They were also trying to convince people to attend the prayers at a Church in Baldeh village.
According to Indian Express report, Singh said, “After prayers every Sunday and Tuesday at the church, the priests used to misinform the people about Hindu religion and convince them to embrace Christianity. Accused also used to give prohibited medicines and drugs to the visitors and under its influence made them join Christianity.”
Brajesh Singh, On August 2, knocked the doors of the courts appealing for filing FIR into the matter. Singh said, “The court on August 31 directed the police to lodge an FIR and investigate the matter.”
Earlier also, a case of conversion racket had surfaced where Christian missionaries gave poor slum dwellers samosa in Agra, Uttar Pradesh and asked them to get converted for better education for their children.
In June, a conversion racket was exposed in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh. The Pastor of Mulhera church in Meerut, Father Deependra Prakash Maalewar had been converting poor Hindu families in the village. He had offered them Rs. 15,000 and government job if they abandon their religion and embrace Christianity. When he was caught by Hindu organization, he was making affidavits of 17 Hindu families for embracing Christianity.
VHP leader Abhishek Chauhan had said, “We had prior information about the priest that he was involved in religious conversion and was luring poor Hindu families to embrace Christianity. On a tip-off that he has brought these poor Hindus to Tehsil for making affidavits, we raided the lawyer’s chamber and caught him red-handed.” The pastor and the lawyer were immediately taken to the police, and the pastor was thrown behind the bars. During police interrogation, the pastor had accepted that he was completing the legal formalities for converting the Hindu families. He had revealed that earlier also he had converted four Hindu families into Christianity in Mulhera village. Most of those who embraced Christianity come from poor families and lower castes. Uneducated and poor people are soft targets and easy to indoctrinate.
Earlier, in the same month, a Dalit girl was lured by a pastor of a church who converted her, and then sold her off to one Phulchandra Bazigar in Ludhiana for Rs 1 Lakh. Before selling her, the priest also arranged her marriage with Phulchandra as per Christian rituals.
All these conversion rackets are foreign funded. Government has done a lot to stop foreign funding and rattled with this, now the conversion rackets are asking all parishes to recite prayers, with fasting and Eucharistic adoration every Friday until the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. The prayers and other activities should apparently be carried out in order to ensure the victory of a new, non-BJP government.
The mainstream media creates huge outrage when cases of Ghar Wapsi are reported but maintains pin drop silence when the conversion rackets like that of Meerut and Jaunpur get exposed.