Congress MPs from Kerala had earlier this week created din in Parliament alleging VHP-sponsored compulsory ghar wapasi in the State but the party’s Chief Minister, Oommen Chandy, on Wednesday said that forced conversions were not taking place in Kerala and that there had been no incidents of forced conversion which warranted Government intervention.
Replying to a query on the reconversion of 30 Scheduled Caste Christians into Hindu faith last Sunday in Alappuzha district under the auspices of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Chandy said in Thiruvananthapuram, “Compulsory conversions or reconversions are not taking place and will not take place in Kerala, Therefore there is no need for Government intervention.”
Chandy said that the Government would intervene if there were cases which warranted such intervention. “But if people convert on their own decision, the Government has nothing to do in it. For Government intervention to take place, there should be compulsory conversions or reconversions which are not taking place in the State,” he said.
Chandy said that the people of Kerala loved to live in peace and harmony and had been out of things like compulsory conversions, adding that all sections in the society enjoyed equal rights and dignity in the State. “We have always steered clear of such kinds of happenings,” Chandy said.
Former Union Minister KC Venugopal and NK Premachandran, MPs of the Congress and its ally RSP respectively, had raised the issue of last Sunday’s reconversion in the lok Sabha on Monday demanding Prime Ministerial response. The Centre reacted by saying that it was up to the Kerala Government to take action if any such incident had taken place.
Thirty persons belonging to a Dalit Christian community, into which they or their predecessors had converted decades back, had re-embraced Hindu faith last Sunday at a ceremony organised by the VHP at a family temple at Cheppad near Harippad in Alappuzha district. Three Dalit Christians of a family in Anchal, Kollam also had reconverted into Hinduism the same day.
All those who had reconverted into Hindu faith at Cheppad had said that they had done so voluntarily and that they themselves had approached the VHP with the request for help. VHP leaders who arranged the ceremony also said that there had been no coercion or temptation and that all they had done was to help them fulfill their wish by hosting a ceremony.
Immediately after the reconversion at Cheppad, Home Minister Chennithala had said that the Government was viewing the matter seriously and had asked Additional Director General of Police (Intelligence) A Hemachandran to conduct an enquiry into it. However, N Padmakumar, Alappuzha District Collector, said that there would be no enquiry as there was no complaint.
Meanwhile, Vellappally Natesan, general secretary of the Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana Yogam (SNDP), the influential organisation of Hindu lower caste Ezhavas, said in Kollam that there was nothing wrong if people who had converted into a different religion reconverted to their original faith.
“How can it be wrong if somebody who had converted once wants to go back to his or her original faithIJ” he asked. Stating that conversions had been taking place in Kerala since the time of Tipu Sultan, Vellappally said the effective way to end such incidents was to find out the reasons for conversion - which were ignorance and backwardness - and do the needful.