‘Conversion is what Muslims, Christians do; what VHP does is not conversion’

The Vishwa Hindu Parishad’s Jugal Kishore, in charge of ‘Ghar Vapsi’ meant to ‘reconvert’ Muslims and Christians, speaks to Nistula Hebbar on the controversial programme. Edited excerpts:

What do you have to say to the anti-conversion bill proposal?

What we do is not conversion. We want conversions done by other religions through huge funding of petro dollars and missionaries to be investigated and stopped. Religious conversion is a national problem. We want a bill which will make it difficult to convert people to other religions. Conversion is an attack on country and a conspiracy to divide it again by attacking the roots of our national culture.

Did you know why Communist leader EMS Namboodiripad gave a statue of Nataraja to the Chinese leadership? It was because it depicted Indian culture; not the Bible or the Koran. It was for the same reason that Narendrabhai Modi presented the Gita to Obama.

Why is VHP converting people?

What we do is ‘ghar vapsi’ – getting back converted people back into the fold. It is not conversion. When we went to the northeast, tribals were seen worshipping nature. We said, Hinduism also worships nature, tulsi, the peepal tree, gaumata, etc. We are no different.

What ritual have you devised, since there is no such thing as conversion in Sanatan Dharma?

Again, this is not conversion. It is a simple acknowledgement that some people were converted to other religions and now want to return. This has been done by people historically too. Madhvacharya did this, Vidyaranya Swamiji did this, Rishi Deval did this. Even Shivaji, whose associate Netaji Palkar was converted to Islam, got him back into the Hindu fold. In no case is VHP making people Hindus in Arab countries or in Christian countries. We just want our people to realise their identity.

As for the ritual, there is no such fixed thing. Our local units reach out to people, tell them through our vanshavali (lineage) programme their family tree, when they underwent convrsion. Those wishing to return have to later file an affidavit and in some cases publish in newspapers. If there are many people, there is a ‘havan’ or ‘yagya’, where ‘sankalp’ is taken.

Hindusim is structured on caste and even government benefits are distributed through caste identity, how do returnees fix themselves in this structure?

Most people already know which caste they belong to despite conversion to Islam or Christianity. In some cases, Hindus of their caste groups are contacted and a caste identity is accorded. Hindu leaders assure them that they would have consanguinity and marriage relations.

Writer Muzzaffar Husain in a ‘vanshavali’ programme in Jaipur admitted that his family was Hindu three generations ago.

In the Vedas there is no manual scavenging and boycott of people. If you look closely at these communities, their gotras have Solankis, Chauhans, Sisodias, Rathores etc. Because they were defeated Rajputs punished for not accepting Islam. They were made the lowest of low. Other Hindus were made to socially-boycott them.

Now, Narendrabhai is trying to end manual scavenging and end the Mughal tradition.

Will you facilitate Dalits Muslims and Christians who ‘return’ to secure benefits of reservations?

We do help such people to get a caste certificate. We help in filling forms and other legal procedure.

What about allegations of allurement by some people in Agra?

These people, I feel, were put under pressure by custodians of the minority vote bank into recanting. We haven’t done anything illegal. This work was going on under Congress governments too. Stopping this would be politically motivated.

Why are Buddhists, Jains and Sikhs not targeted?

We don’t consider these religions as foreign to India’s culture. They originated here. We consider Buddha as part of Vishnu’s Dashavatar. These religions do not cut one away from our cultural moorings. We don’t consider them foreign, as we consider Islam and Christianity.

Source : Economic Times