Hyderabad: A majority of those who reconverted into Hinduism are Dalit Christians.
Mr Nomula Vinod Kumar, a Vishwa Hindu Parishad functionary in the city, said, “Those reconverted to Hinduism were majorly Dalit Christians, while some of them were Muslims. They were not forced to change the religion. We only convinced them on how changing their religion for the sake of better social or financial gains promised by others was incorrect.”
He reiterates, “The reconversions have been happening since the past 13 years in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana State under the VHP’s guidance and will continue; it has nothing to do with the stand of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) or any other political party.”
Plan to strengthen VHP cadre
The cardre-strength of the Bajrang Dal, the youth wing of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, has almost tripled in last six months. In the past decade, the number of Bajrang Dal activists in the city was around 1,200. It had now crossed the 3,000 mark. Now, VHP functionaries are planning to increase their strength to 12,000 by 2015 across Andhra Pradesh and Telangana state. “We want to strengthen the Bajrang Dal and have 12,000 activists. We would also launch a ‘Hindu Helpline’ and centres across districts.” said Venkatesh, the VHP in-charge of AP and TS.
VHP to stay mum on conversion
The Vishwa Hindu Parishad functionaries are not likely to be vocal about the conversion scheme during the Hindu Shakti Sangamam, which is scheduled for December 28 at the NTR Stadium. A VHP functionary said, “We do not want to reveal much about the programme as the media attention is only causing unnecessary hurdles.”
The Hindu Shakthi Sangamam would witness a Hanuman yagna and a large public meeting where VHP functionaries, including Ashok Singhal, Praveen Togadia and Raghav Reddy and RSS leader Suresh Joshi (Bhayyaji) are expected to address over one lakh people.
