The Hindu : Help check conversions, Rajnath appeals to Sonia

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Jan 05, 2003

National

National

Help check conversions, Rajnath appeals to Sonia

By Our Staff Correspondent

RAIPUR JAN. 4. The Bharatiya Janata Party general secretary, Rajnath Singh, today appealed to the Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, to direct the Chhattisgarh Chief Minister, Ajit Jogi, to check religious conversions done under fear and allurement. Otherwise, "she and Mr. Jogi would be held responsible for such conversions'', he said.

Addressing a press conference during a two-day State executive meeting to chalk out strategies for the Assembly elections due later this year, Mr. Singh said she should direct Mr. Jogi to effectively stop coercive conversions. "Conversions done by allurement or under fear are a cruel joke for the poor people of Chhattisgarh. If the missionaries want to serve the poor people here, conversions should not be the motive behind it,'' he said, adding that the people of Chhattisgarh had their own peculiar traditions which should not be disturbed.

``Any attempt to disturb the peculiar culture and tradition will be taken as an attack on the self-esteem of the people,'' he said while pointing out that the State BJP unit had been awakening the people against conversions and would launch an agitation later this month.

Asked to comment on the criticism of the State Government by the senior Congress leader, V.C. Shukla, , Mr. Singh said it proved how ineffective the Government was since Mr. Shukla was a senior party leader and would know the internal politics of the party better than anyone else. It was a matter of concern for the BJP that the traditions of the people of a State, created by them, were being tampered with, Mr. Singh said.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

National