‘Church reaction is an admission of conversion by wrong means’

Why are you suddenly demanding an Act to ban conversions?After Tamil Nadu promulgated an Ordinance on banning conversions recently, a Cardin...

Why are you suddenly demanding an Act to ban conversions?
After Tamil Nadu promulgated an Ordinance on banning conversions recently, a Cardinal said that they would close down their schools. We have responded to that. They may go ahead and carry out the threat. Their reactions to the demand are an indirect admission of the fact that they are converting people by wrong means. And then, such Acts are already in existence in Congress-run states like Madhya Pradesh and even in Orissa. So, why not cover the entire country? There has been a viewpoint against fraudulent conversions right since the 1954 Niyogi Commission report. Even the Supreme Court has ruled against such conversions. So, what’s the problem?

But if the SC has already ruled against it, why insist on an Act?
(That was) only the court’s opinion. The SC expresses its opinions on many issues, but they don’t automatically apply (to everyone).

There haven’t been many reports of the kind of fraudulent conversions that the RSS has been alleging.
Of course, there have been. The Hindu and The New Indian Express have recently reported such stories. In Tamil Nadu, the Seventh Day Adventist Church chalked out a programme to convert 10 lakh Hindus. They had also organised a rally, but when the Hindu Munnai staged a dharna, they said they are only baptising the converted. Now, when were these Hindus converted? In July this year, the ‘conversion victory rally’ organised by the Saint Joseph Church was attacked by converted Dalit Christians who were protesting against untouchability among Christians. What do these events show? Hindus won’t tolerate such things anymore.

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You have been opposing conversions, but the VHP has been involved in reconversions, mainly in BJP-ruled states like Jharkhand. In Palamau, reconversions are taking place allegedly through allurements. So where is the difference?
Our texts say, Na Hindu patito bhavet (a Hindu doesn’t get impure by conversion) and so can always be reconverted. Reconversions are being done in accordance with the law. Two years ago, the Puri Shankaracharya got some converts back into Hinduism after completing the due legal process. And the charge of allurements is wrong. We don’t have any Gulf money to be able to give allurements.

What does your harping on the conversion issue augur for your talks with the Church?
The conversion issue is an irritant to the talks, but they haven’t been affected. Because we have made it clear that we have no objection to conversions by change of heart. Even former SC judge K T Thomas has opposed fraudulent conversions.