Members of the Gajapati Viswa Hindu Parishad (VHP) have raised their voice against the proposed three-day Ascharyajanak Ashirbad and Susthata Mahotsav (Miraculous Blessing and Treatment Fest) to be organised at Talada villager under Chheligada gram panchayat from November 1.
The activists apprehend that mass religious conversion would take place during the fest. They have also submitted memorandums to the district Collector and the SP urging them to stop the fest.
VHP members Niranjan Patnaik, Anadi Panigrahi, Kailash Patnaik and Bighnaraj Patnaik informed that one Christian missionary M Ravi Abraham would lead the ‘sensitive’ religious convention.
Through leaflets, the missionary has urged blind, deaf and dumb and physically-challanged persons to join the fest and get cured of their deficiencies miraculously by just observing one-minute prayer in the name of God.
“This is complete superstition in the age of science. It is anti-culture and a conspiracy of mass religious conversion. Besides, it may lead communal discord in the peace loving district. Hence, we have requested the district Collector and the SP not to give permission for the fest,” the VHP activists said. The group terms the attempt as suspicious.