Upset by the reports of rising fraudulent conversions in the country by Islamist and evangelist groups, Hindu religious leaders have voiced their concern and asked the government to bring in a pan-India law against religious conversions. The apex body of 13 religious orders, the Akhil Bhartiya Akhara Parishad (ABAP) has called a meeting of all the akharas to decide on the steps to be taken to check religious conversions. The date of the meeting is yet to be announced.
Recently, two persons were arrested on charges of converting more than 1,000 persons taking advantage of their physical disabilities. Many of them were fooled to change their religion. ABAP president Mahant Narendra Giri said, “We have to find a solution and provide an equal opportunity to all so that such incidents could be stopped. There are not only external factors for this but there are fault-lines within us also. Experiences have shown us that those who have been neglected in the mainstream or those who have been treated as outcasts, tend to take refuge in other religions. We will request the Hindus to rise above the considerations of caste and treat everyone with dignity, share mutual respect and avoid circumstances wherein someone changes his or her religion.”
The Mahant said a meeting of the representatives of all the 13 akharas would be held soon and the agenda would be to ask disciples and common Hindus to rise above the caste system and mull over steps for bringing back to the fold those who have changed their religion.
Chief patron of Juna Akhara Mahant Hari Giri said, “We have always advocated welcoming back those who have switched over to other religions. Seers and disciples would be given the task of convincing people to rise above the narrow considerations of the caste system.”
The ABAP, two days ago, supported the introduction of a legal draft for population control. Mahant Narendra Giri, in a press statement, had said that the seers have always demanded that the ever-increasing population in the country should be controlled. He had said that under the Population Control Act, it should be ensured that couples, irrespective of their religion, should have only two children.
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