RSS Claimed, 'Converted 200 Muslims As Hindus In Agra'

An offshoot of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) on Monday claimed to have converted at least 57 Muslim families into Hinduism at a 'Purkhon ki ghar vapsi' (Coming home of the ancestors) ceremony in Uttar Pradesh's Agra district.

At the mass conversion ceremony, organised jointly by Dharma Jagran Samanvay Vibhag and Bajrang Dal, the right-wing groups said they were able to bring more than 200 Muslims "back to Hinduism" at Madhunagar slum area of the city. The organisers said the converts will soon be given new names.

The organisers, who had put saffron flags on the rooftops of the makeshift houses in Madhunagar, chanted hymns as the Muslim families washed the feet of Hindu idols to mark their return to the Hindu religion. The RSS and Bajrang Dal members prepared a list of all the 'converts' to get their voter IDs and Aadhaar cards made with their new names.

The BJP has defended the event. "People should be free to choose their own religion. If they have again adopted Hinduism, there is no harm," senior party leader Vinay Katiyar told Headlines Today.

"This is all planned and will continue for the next five years," the Nationalist Congress Party's Tariq Anwar said.

An RSS official said 5000 more Muslims and Christians will be "brought back into the Hindu fold" in Aligarh district on Christmas later this month. "The grand event will be held at Maheshwari College in Aligarh," he is quoted as telling a newspaper.

The official claimed that the RSS spends Rs.50 lakh every month on the conversion of an average 1000 Muslim and Christian families. He also claimed that the RSS has taken over about 60 churches across Uttar Pradesh. "One day these churches will crumble and our country will belong to the Hindus alone," he told a newspaper.