Days after several prominent Hindu priests and BJP leaders called for other Hindus to arm themselves and kill Muslims, BJP MP Tejasvi Surya, has called for the conversion of Muslims and Christians to Hinduism.
Speaking at a programme of Sri Krishna Mutt in Udupi, Karnataka on Saturday, 25 December, Surya said, “All mutts should take the initiative to bring back people from other religions to Hinduism.” He said the work of preventing religious conversion and bringing back those who had converted from Hinduism to other religions should happen on a ‘war-footing’.
The work to “prevent” Hindu religious conversion, as Surya said is already on its way. Last week, the Karnataka Assembly passed the draconian anti-conversion Bill through a voice vote, despite opposition from the opposition Congress and JD(S), Christians, Muslims and civil society groups. The BJP government alleges the Bill aims to prohibit “unlawful conversions” from one religion to another.
Surya, who was called out internationally for making vulgar comments against Arab women, said temples and mutts must set “yearly targets” to bring Muslims and Christians back to the Hindu faith.
“Those who have converted… every day their population is going up. We have all discussed this. If we want Hindu culture to remain, Hindu society must remain. Hindu society must have political power. Political power is decided by numerical strength. During delimitation, we see that half the population is them and half us. It’s a hare-brained solution. Delimitation may postpone this problem by five or 10 years, but can’t find a solution,” Surya said in his speech in Kannada.
“Only option left for the Hindus is to reconvert all those people who have gone out of the Hindu fold. Those who left this religion for socio, political, economic reasons over the course of history and forced to go out of the fold must be brought back. I appeal that every temple and every mutt must have yearly targets to bring back people to Hindu faith,” the hate-spewing MP added.
Raking up the idea of ‘Akhand Bharat’ or undivided India, Surya said “it is our duty” to reconvert those who converted in Pakistan. “Those who had converted in today’s Pakistan, it is our duty to reconvert them back to Hinduism. That’s when we will have geographical Pakistan back. This may seem impossible today. But some time ago, removing Article 370 and building Ram Mandir too seemed impossible.”
Just days ago, hundreds of Hindu priests, members of radical Hindu organisations and BJP leaders called for the killing of Muslims at a three-day hate conference in Haridwar. The blatant and alarming call to kill Muslims were given by people with close ties to the BJP.
Videos of the event have spread widely on social media in India and globally this week. Yet the government’s characteristic silence shows its tacit signal of protection.
And now, with Tejasvi Surya calling Hindus and Hindu mutts to convert Muslims and Christians to the Hindu fold, there is no doubt how they intend to do it since most of them wouldn’t convert willingly.
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