Proselytizing quagmire

[dropcap]R[/dropcap]ight to religion is one vital element that keeps the cohesiveness of the diverse Indian society intact. Without it the country cannot expect to have true values of democracy. Definitely the secular fabric of our society will be at stake without the right to worship. So banning of conversion is akin to doing away the constitutional right of the citizens to choose their choice of religion which has also been acting as adhesive for the country. However, force proselytizing or conversion under duress is not fine. It is undemocratic and not secular which is against the characteristic of India. Force conversion and conversion through evangelism should not be mixed up. The VHP, RSS and other sister organizations of the Hindutva failed to differentiate between these two things. They term the evangelism and missionary activities as ‘luring.’ VHP chief Pravin Tagodia said that the Christian organizations are ‘luring’ the poor Hindus with materials in exchange to become Christians. RSS chief Mohan Bhagat too has been saying this for a long time now. On Saturday in Kolkata Mohan Bhagat said, “We are trying to create a strong Hindu society.Those who have strayed, they have not gone on their own. They have been allured and have been forcibly taken away. When the thief is being caught and my property has been recovered, when I am taking back my own property, what is new in it?” “If you don’t like it (re-conversion to Hinduism), then bring a law against it. You don’t want to bring it. If you don’t want to change into a Hindu, then you should not convert Hindus too. We are firm in our position,” he said. If this is so then the elections in any democratic country are nothing but ‘allurement’ and illegal. The political parties canvass for their parties and whoever convinces well wins the elections. Meanwhile, on the line of RSS and VHP many BJP leaders are supporting a law banning conversions. To this, social scientists have been warning that the issue is extremely sensitive and the people at the helm should ‘handle it with care.’