families in the eastern state of West Bengal, despite concern among human rights watchdogs about the alleged persecution of Christians. The influential Hindu fundamentalist organization Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), or ‘World Hindu Council’, claimed the re-conversion ceremony was held last week, April 17, in Popra village, about 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the headquarters of West Bengal’s Malda district, reported national daily The Indian Express.
"The Adivasi (tribal) families, who were converted to Christianity for money and other facilities, were disenchanted when they did not get what they were promised. That is why they chose to return to the Hindu fold," the Express quoted VHP District President Nakulchandra Das as saying. However State Chief Secretary S.K. Pujary told the newspaper his government "was unaware" that Christians had become Hindus during the alleged one-hour long event, which was organized by a VHP affiliate.
"We did not know this was happening at that village, we will look into it," he reportedly said. In an attempt to prove their case, five of the 45 families converted Sunday, April 17, have been taken to court where "they swore on an affidavit that they were converting to Hinduism," VHP official Das told another daily, The Telegraph.
COURT CASE
"These families were from the Old Malda area. The affidavits of the others, who came from far away, will be drawn up later," Das added. There have been several re-conversion ceremonies in the troubled region. In August 2002, the VHP re-converted to Hinduism six Christian and one Muslim family in the same district, claimed national daily, The Hindustan Times. Earlier in 2000 a re-conversion ceremony of 81 Christian families was apparently held during a Hindu festival in the same area.
Yet at least one re-conversion ceremony in 2002 was abandoned half way when people seeking conversion fled the scene after feeling intimidated by police, BosNewsLife monitored. "We were not allowed to conduct the yagna or purification ceremony either. However, we were 100 per cent successful today," Das told Indian media.
Human rights groups and church organizations say many Christians in remote and Hindu controlled areas of the country are forced to re-convert to Hinduism, and they have reported an increase of violent incidents directed against India’s Christian minority. (Based in New Delhi, Journalist Vishal Arora has covered persecution and other hard hitting news stories for a variety of international and national publications. He has traveled around the country on invitation by NGOs for seminars and talks on human rights, communalism, and religious persecution. Vishal Arora can be contacted at e-mail address vishalarora_in@hotmail.com or visit his website http://www40.brinkster.com/vishalarora/ )
