AHWA: Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi Saturday criticised Christian missionaries' conversion activities and told a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) meeting here in the Dangs district that the central government had failed to stop them.
"The constitution is against forcible conversion. The state, however, is doing little to stop such conversions," he told a gathering of more than 150,000 RSS activists.
"Mahatma Gandhi too had opposed forcible conversions. If he were alive today and were to say so, they would have lambasted him as well," Modi said.
He was addressing a three-day Shabari Kumbh meet in the tribal-majority district of south Gujarat.
The Shabari Kumbh, organised by Vanvasi Kalyan Parishad (Tribal welfare organisation) and Hindu Jagaran Manch (Hindu resurgence forum), affiliate bodies of the RSS, takes place amid tight security following the central government's instructions to ensure safety of the Christian population.
The meet takes its name from Shabari, a tribal character in Hindu epic Ramayana.
Modi sarcastically thanked Human Resource Minister Arjun Singh for his criticism of the meet, saying, "his opposition has made the Shabari Kumbh a grand success."
The meet began with a series of prayers and rituals at a Shabari temple on the banks of a river near Subir village, 35 km from this district headquarters.
The Dangs, about 350 km from the state capital of Gandhinagar, turned saffron as the meet began. RSS chief K.S. Sudarshan has also arrived to address the participants.
It is my constitutional duty to prevent conversions, says CM; Morari Bapu tells missionaries to stop ‘poaching’ and help in ‘ghar vaapsi’ of converts
Abhishek Kapoor
Shabari Kumbh Site (Dangs), February 11: Quotintg from the Bible and a Bollywood number, it was an open call from kathakar Morari Bapu to missionaries, asking them to stop conversions.
Stressing his liberal credentials, he even asked them to co-operate in the ‘ghar vaapsi’ programme of those tribal Christians who wanted to come back to their parent religion.
Quoting Mahatma Gandhi, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi said it was his constitutional duty to see that no conversions took place.
Both joined in attacking the Congress party even as RSS chief K S Sudarshan watched the proceedings from the dais with Asaram Bapu and other religious heads.
Inaugural of Shabari Kumbh at the sprawling site in the forests of Ahwa-Dangs proved what it was supposed to: a show of Hindutva strength, and a warning, for missionaries to stay away from conversions. As this newspaper reported on Saturday, the message could not get straighter.
Supported by the State government, the religious heads want all induced conversions — poaching as they term it — stopped. Calling the missionaries and their supporters as dambhis (arrogant), pakhandis (charlatans) and hypocrites, Morari Bapu wanted them to follow Christ.
Quoting from a chapter on Luke in the Bible, Bapu said even Christ’s word forbade conversions. All along he stressed his liberal credentials. ‘‘It is hypocrisy to not follow what you preach.
When the Bible says do not convert, please don’t. It is great that you are good medicos, and have the money to help poor and ailing. But once they have been healed, let them go back home (their parent religion) as good doctors do. Ghar jana koi gunah nahin hai,’’ he said, quoting from a Gujarat Sahitya Prakashan translation of the book.
In a scathing attack on that section of present political system that frowns upon any confrontation with missionaries, Bapu said he was ready to commit a sweet offence if re-conversions meant breaking the law. ‘‘Induced conversions are good but coming back home (re-conversions) are bad.
Plane-loads from Vatican can come here and carry out conversions, but if we organise a ghar vaapsi, it is bad? Let everyone be clear this programme is about peace and tolerance as characterised by Hindu ethos. No one shall be scared of this,’’ he said.
In his characteristic acerbic tongue, Chief Minister Modi ridiculed opponents of the Kumbh as arrogant Macaulay sons. ‘‘Mahatma Gandhi fought conversions. Our Constitution disapproves of them, and yet some people turn a blind eye. Let me warn everyone, it is my constitutional duty to prevent conversions,’’ Modi said in the straightest warning ever to missionaries.
He singled out Union HRD Minister Arjun Singh for his ire, calling his half hour discourse against the Kumbh at the Hyderabad session of Congress party, as a good publicity to the event. ‘‘Had it not been for the concern shown by these opponents, such huge media brigade would not have descended to this remote place to publicise it,’’ Modi said.
If the three-day event is meant to be a test of gauging Hindutva consolidation, it can be termed a grand success already. On day one, more than two lakh devotees from across tribal districts of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and some more participated in the ceremonies that began on Saturday morning.
The pandal for the inaugural had more than 50,000 sitting to hear their religious heads speak. Observers are terming it as a consolidation of Hindutva gains that accrued to them with tribals in the aftermath of the 2002 violence.
Morari Bapu also made a suggestion of making it a permanent fixture on the lines of other Kumbh melas. It would be jointly decided among religious heads as to what shall be the periodicity of the mela. A string of religious leaders are to address the pilgrims and visitors over the next two days of the Kumbh.
Heavy security at site
Security deployments have been massive keeping in mind the fears shown by Christian missionaries. A battalion of Rapid Action Force is camping at the missionary Nav Jyot School at Subir village, the site of Shabari temple, a few kilometres from Kumbh mela.
With roads closed to traffic to maintain order, access to the Kumbh site was made difficult. Pilgrims had to walk for 3-4 km to reach the bathing ghats and the Pampa Sarovar for the mandatory darshan.
With the visitor figure crossing two lakh mark on day one, organisers estimate over five lakh pilgrims would come by the end of the event.
Through various events on the sidelines of the Kumbh, a concerted effort has been made to show how tribal culture is only a sub-culture of Hinduism and their ethos gel well with the integral humanism of Sanatan Hindu religion.
One policeman, who was among the five injured in a road mishap near the kumbh site, succumbed to injuries on Saturday. The team of policemen were on their way to Ahwa.