The Diplomat Desk
Jammu,TDD : Stating that poverty and lack of education are being used as tools to carry out conversions, the Shiv Sena Hindustan J&K President Pt Rajesh Kesri today batted for a strong law to prevent religious conversions.” There have been various instances of poor, sick and hapless women “tricked” into following Christianity, he said.”Food, clothing and shelter are the basic necessities for everyone, so is health and education.
It is the duty of politicians to fulfil these needs of common man.”Because these needs are not met, the people are being lured with goodies to change their religion. Will the so-called secularists support such people?” Kesri asked.
The activities of conversion to Christianity were going on in a house of village qutumjam in RS Pura in attendance of many people. When Shiv Sena Hindustan came to know of it, they strongly protested against conversion and informed the police about it.Reaching the spot, Kesri saw a battery of people conspiring against the Hindus and pressurizing poor families to convert to Christianity. Marginalized but numerically dominant and politically important communities are also in the Sena’s sights — hence the increased focus on bringing along women, Dalit and OBC constituencies as standard bearers of the ‘sanatan dharma’. He said India is perhaps the only country where the majority religious group faces a significant threat of being converted to minority religions. Hindus in India are being converted to Christianity and Islam at an alarming rate, yet this issue remains almost invisible in the media.
This apathy towards the forced or deceptive conversion of Hindus can be traced to several factors. One major reason is that these conversions often occur under the pretense of social, cultural, or developmental work, making it difficult to clearly identify and address the problem. In cases where Hindus convert to Islam, emotional manipulation, such as through “love jihad,” plays a big role. Additionally, the heavy burden of “secularism” placed on Hindus and the state’s focus on appeasing minorities have pushed this issue out of the media spotlight, added Kesri. For years, Hindu advocacy groups and independent activists have been calling for a nationwide anti-conversion law. While several Indian states—like Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Odisha, and Chhattisgarh—have laws to prevent forced conversions, these laws are often underused, and there is little public awareness, said Kesri.TDD
