Describing religious conversions and re-conversions as equally bad, Union Urban Development Minister Venkaiah Naidu on Thursday said that a "lot of foreign money has been spent on conversions" in India in the past. "Unnecessary controversies are being raised about conversions.. The (Modi) government is not involved in this. We do not support any religion. The government has no religion. It is the people who have religion and we respect people's faith," he said assuaging any possible fears of Non-Resident India's who had gathered in large numbers at the 13th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) at Gandhinagar here. The minister while presiding over a plenary session on "Opportunities in India" at the PBD, reassured the elite gathering saying that "development and good governance" were the only "agenda" of both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the NDA government. The minister's comments were greeted by a huge applause at the event where other top ministers of the Modi-government including Uma Bharti, Birender Singh, Mahesh Sharma and Rajiv Pratap Rudy, were also present. Naidu went to add that Hindutava was not connected to any religion. "We will not support anti-conversion, re-conversion or conversion. It is left to the people. The government will go for a (anti-conversion) law, provided there is a consensus and request from all political parties." However, also made remarks saying, "If reconversion is bad, conversion is also bad." Though he repeatedly reassured the gathering that his government was not involved in conversions, Naidu went on say, "India is a free country. It is not that conversions are happening just during the reign of this government. Conversions and re-conversions have been happening in India since the last 200 years. A lot of foreign money is being spent on conversions and it is an open secret." "We are neither right or left; we are straight," said Naidu while describing his government's stance on the issue. He said he was forced to clarify on this issue as "some people" and "few English newspapers" were creating controversy on the issue. He said that PM has been connecting directly with the people irrespective of what was being talked about in some news "studios".
