Homecoming is a natural urge to reconnect to roots says Dr Manmohan Vaidya The Winter Session of the Parliament concluded on December 23 following a week long uproar by the Opposition parties on some incidents of homecoming in several parts of the country. However the Government had made it clear on first day itself that it is ready to bring Anti-Conversion Bill if Members of the House are ready, they, instead of discussing the issue, continued to create uproar. Organiser Senior Correspondent Pramod Kumar spoke to Akhil Bharatiya Prachar Pramukh of RSS Dr Manmohan Vaidya to know the issue of ‘homecoming’ and ‘conversion’. Following are the excerpts: Winter Session of the Parliament concluded with an uproar on conversion. How do you look at it? The growing popularity of the Government following various people-friendly decisions has made the Opposition parties issueless. They have no logical issue to speak against the Government. This uproar was basically to register their presence in the House. Fact is that conversion is not an issue at all. The incidents which were made centre of opposition were not actually ‘conversion’. They were homecoming of the people who in the past due to various reasons alienated from their original roots. They are coming back at their will without any force or allurement. The Constitution allows everyone to change their way of worship anytime. Therefore, nothing is illegal in that. Anti-Conversion Laws were first passed by Congress governments in Odisha and Madhya Pradesh in 1967. The decisions were based on the findings of the Niyogi Committee constituted in MP by the then Congress government. Conversions are still taking place on large scale in different parts of the country adopting fraudulent means. Those who are creating hue and cry now do not speak anything against it. If the Hindu society is getting ready to welcome their lost brethren and they too have an urge to reconnect to their roots, this should be welcomed. It will strengthen the solidarity in the society. The recent uproar was only for the sake of opposing the government, which is taking good people-friendly initiatives. The Muslims and Christians who join the Sangh shakhas or attend the training camp are not converted at all. They have full freedom to follow their way of worship. The previous incidents of large-scale (en mass) conversions into Islam or Christianity had in their roots fraud, allurement or force. There are many examples of it. Therefore, in order to curb such activities the first Anti-Conversion Laws were enacted in Odisha and Madhya Pradesh in 1967. The Niyogi Committee then proved with substantial evidences that conversion of gullible people was going on through fraudulent means. It was also observed that large scale conversions enhanced problems related to internal security. At that time not only in both the states but also at the Centre there were Congress governments. Even five years back the Congress government of Himachal Pradesh brought Anti-Conversion Bill. The question is why the Congress governments felt it necessary to enact such laws? Instead of holding discussion on conversion through allurement or fraudulent means, they created uproar on the corrective steps being taken by the society. Everywhere the attempt to enact laws banning conversion through fraud, allurement or force, is being opposed by the Christian Missionaries and church. Why they have been opposing needs to be seen seriously. The recent uproar was totally unnecessary. If anything illegal takes place anywhere in the country the State governments are there to take action. Another question is why all the Opposition parties are mum on the Central Government’s proposal to bring Anti-Conversion Law? Is homecoming not conversion? No, homecoming is not conversion. Everybody knows that 99 per cent of the Muslims or Christians in India are converts and descendents of Hindu ancestors. They felt alienated from their cultural roots. We hav
Posted on: Wed, 21 Jan 2015 04:51:00 +0000
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