The evangelical religions, Islam and Christianity, have converted millions of Hindus in India, and this exercise is going on since hundreds of years. The evangelical religions used every means, from forceful conversion to luring the poor with money and other resources. Since independence, the priests and mercenaries of these religions have primarily targeted the weaker sections of the society, Dalits, tribals, and poor, to bring them to their faith, as the method of forceful conversion is no longer available.
The conversion started with the Mughal invasions when millions of Hindus were converted to Islam with force and later, under the British rule, the Christians did the same. As many of these converts are not comfortable in the converted faith, the Hindu religious authorities have started a programme called ‘Ghar Wapsi’, through which these people are brought back to the Hindu fold.
The latest programme of ‘Ghar Wapsi’ was conducted in Dang district of Gujarat, where 144 members of Warli tribal community were reconverted to Hinduism. Sadhvi Yashoda Didi of Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), under whose leadership ‘Ghar Wapsi’ was carried, said, “These Warli tribals were lured into embracing Christianity by missionaries five years ago. They contacted us recently, saying they were not feeling comfortable following this religion.”
“As they wanted to come back to Hinduism, we arranged this program of ‘Ghar Wapsi’ today,” she added. According to her, the Warli tribals themselves contacted to the religious leaders, “We did not make any false promise to these tribals to persuade them to embrace their ancestral faith,” said Sadhvi Yashoda Didi.
Christian missionaries converting poor people by promising them a good living standard is a major menace all over the world. India has been one of the top targets of the Christian missionaries. All these conversion rackets are foreign funded.
Since coming to power in 2014 the Modi government has done a lot to stop foreign funding and rattled with this, the conversion rackets had asked all parishes to recite prayers, with fasting and Eucharistic adoration every Friday until the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. The prayers and other activities were apparently be carried out in order to ensure the victory of a new, non-BJP government.
They are wary of the FCRA Act which has put a break on the conversion rates by cutting dubious foreign donations. The central government has put it to good use in order to expose and limit the NGOs which carried out mass conversions all throughout India in the name of charity. But it needs to do more. Funding should be stopped completely and the offenders should be punished very strictly.
These evangelicals are carrying out conversions and soft indoctrination through schools, colleges and hospitals. Christian schools are transferring money to Christian missionaries to carry out conversion projects.
The Ghar Wapsi programme by the VHP is crucial to make sure that Hinduism is not eaten up by the conversion mafia; and those who were converted earlier and are not ‘comfortable’ in the faith, are brought back to Hindu faith. Hinduism is essentially not an evangelical faith, but given the zeal of the Christian missionaries, who carry out conversion activities, it is important to have programmes like the ‘Ghar Wapsi’.