RSS can reconvert Christians peacefully: NGOs

By Our Special Correspondent

AHMEDABAD, DEC.29. About a dozen voluntary organisations, including some of the Christians' bodies, have said they have no objection to the Sangh Parivar reconverting Christians in a peaceful way.

Talking to presspersons here today on the findings of the voluntary teams regarding the ``peaceful Christmas'' in the tribal-dominated Dangs and other districts in south Gujarat this year, the NGOs demanded that the Central and State Governments notify the administration and the police not to give any support to the forces campaigning against conversions.

Claiming that conversion was a Constitutional right, Ms. Radhika Desai, representative of the All-India Democratic Women's Association, which led the NGOs, said they could not have any objection to the Sangh Parivar reconverting Christians provided it did not use force or violence.

The AIDWA sent the representatives of voluntary organisations just before Christmas to Ahwa, headquarters of the Dangs district, and Chhindia, Halmodi and Pipalwada villages in Surat district, which had witnessed attacks on Christians during the last two years.

Thanking the authorities for ensuring a peaceful Christmas this year, the teams said this was only a ``small victory'' and did not mean that the problems brewing in the region in the last few years owing to the heightened activities by the ``outside forces'' representing the Hindu militant outfits had been resolved. The Christmas violence was a ``symptom of the deeper and graver problems.''

Accusing the police of complicity in the violence, the NGOs urged the Gujarat Government to ensure that the administrative machinery remained unbiased and normal activities were not prevented under the plea of maintaining the law and order.

They demanded action against those who indulged in criminal and violent actions in the name of religion and said the Christmas celebrations under heavy police guards ``giving the villages the appearance of under occupation'' could not be called normal.

Ms. Desai said copies of the report on the findings would be sent to the Governor, Mr. Sunder Singh Bhandari, and the Union Home Ministry.

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Section  : National
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