India: Hindus Must Stop Conversions, or Become a Minority
By Joseph DeCaro, Worthy News Correspondent
NEW DELHI, INDIA (Worthy News)– The leader of the ultra-nationalist Vishwa Hindu Parishad group decried the conversions of Hindus to other faiths at a rally in Bhopal last Saturday, according to AsiaNews.
“We must immediately stop conversions, or soon Hindus will be a minority in India,” said Ashok Singhal, whose fundamentalist organization is inspired by Hindutva, a nationalist ideology whose aim is the establishment of a Hindu nation.
In addition to stopping conversions, Singhal asked Hindu families to raise at least five children to prevent Christians and Muslims from outnumbering them.
Sajan George, president of the Global Council of Indian Christians, told AsiaNews that we must “condemn in no uncertain terms the fascism of groups like the VHP, which endanger Indian democracy and secularism”.
“Christians in India just want to enjoy their constitutional guarantees, in particular Article 25 of the Charter, which enshrines freedom of worship, practice and dissemination of their faith,” he said. “Religious freedom is a basic human right and the VHP wants to intimidate and persecute Christians by raising the bogeyman of conversions to instil Hindutva ideas in the population.”
In theory, anti-conversion laws prohibit conversions either by force or by bribe, but in practice, they are often used to persecute newly converted religious minorities.