No takers for VHP’s ‘ghar wapsi’ in Hyderabad - The Times of India
HYDERABAD: Hyderabad has given a clear thumbs down to 'ghar wapsi', forcing the VHP to drop the reconversion programme it had planned during a big Hindu Shakthi Sangamam in the city on December 28. The event was to be part of the organization's four-day golden jubilee celebrations beginning on Friday.
Still, the VHP claimed the programme had been a success across Telangana and Andhra Pradesh in the past few months.
While Prime Minister Narendra Modi's displeasure over conversion events might have prompted the VHP to shun its 'ghar wapsi' plans in Hyderabad, the right-wing Hindu nationalist organization's functionaries said the programme was not included in the mega event since their plans found no takers among the city's minority communities.
Result: the Hindu Shakthi Sangamam is now limited to a Hanuman yagna and a large public meeting at NTR Stadium here where VHP functionaries including Ashok Singhal, Praveen Togadia and Raghav Reddy, and Suresh Joshi (Bhayyaji) from the RSS are expected to address about two lakh people.
"The idea is to welcome those who want to come back to Hindu religion voluntarily," said Venkateswar Raju, official spokesperson of the VHP (Telangana and Rayalaseema). "We never forced anyone and as nobody came forward this time in Hyderabad, 'ghar wapsi' is not included in the Hindu Shakthi Sangamam."
VHP functionaries said reconversions were being carried out with success across Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. VHP central joint secretary G Satyam said more than 5,000 people across the two states, mostly from the Christian community, were reconverted in the past two months.
"'Reconversion' is a continuous process, and the VHP has been doing it for several decades," said Satyam. "There's nothing new, except it's now being highlighted by the media. Of late, there [has been] a tremendous response to 'ghar wapsi' in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh." Satyam, who provided photographs of reconversion events held recently in Nalgonda, Medak, Mahbubnagar, and Nizamabad in Telangana and Srikakulam, Nellore, Kurnool, East and West Godavari districts, said the process would continue irrespective of the political upheavals over the issue.
"The stand of the BJP and any other political party has got nothing to do with VHP's activities and the conversions will continue," said Bharat Vamshi, another VHP functionary. According to him, the VHP had reconverted more than seven lakh people in India since it was launched in 1964.
Conversions gathered momentum in the two Telugu-speaking states after the BJP came to power at the Centre in May. In the past six months, over 10,000 people had been welcomed back into Hindu religion fold in the two states, Vamshi claimed. While most of those who converted are Dalit Christians, the response from Muslims has not been positive in Telangana and Rayalaseema.
"There is no reason for the Muslims in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh to change their religion since there is no threat to their social security, nor there would be any material benefits that would change their lives after conversion or re-conversion," said Mir Ayub Ali Khan, a senior journalist said.
The VHP Trust Board meeting, the annual general body meeting of the organization that will be held in Hyderabad during the four-day event, is expected to adopt a resolution in favour of the Anti-Conversion Bill, the legislation proposed by the Sangh Parivar to prevent forced conversions in the country.
Christian missionary groups in India are reportedly helping with the remarkable rise in Christianity in the second most populous country in the world, especially among young people as well as middle and high caste Indians.
"With more than 71 million claiming Christianity, India is now the eighth largest Christian nation in the world," said Dick McClain, president and CEO of The Mission Society, publisher of Unfinished. "Yet with 456 languages and more than 2,611 distinct people groups, India still has more people groups unreached with the gospel than any other nation – 88 percent of its population."
The rise of Christianity is detailed in the latest issue of
Unfinished magazine, where The Mission Society, which recruits, trains and sends Christian missionaries around the world, details how the Gospel is creating a "new India." The missionary efforts are reportedly reaching new groups beyond the lower caste and marginalized communities, who traditionally have been the more likely to be open to Christianity.
Indian anthropologist Prabhu Singh identifies five dominant themes that define the missional challenges in India, but also points out that the rise of Christianity, which is still a minority religion there, is also being met by an increase in religious animosity, resulting in persecution and violence against Christians.
The last official nationwide survey in India in 2001 on religious beliefs identified that only 2.3 percent, or 24 million people, identify as Christians. The Mission Society claims that that number has risen dramatically in the past decade, however.
Singh added in a separate blog that the Indian church also sends out thousands of its own missionaries to share with people the message of Christ, but many do not receive money from abroad for their purposes.
Follow us
Get CP eNewsletter ››
"For example, one south-India-based mission agency with nearly 2000 workers has an annual budget of almost nine million U.S. dollars, and all of its money is raised from Indians, both living in India and abroad," The Mission Society wrote in a
blog post.
"Despite India's contribution to global missions and the rise of Global South Christianity, global missions continues under the grip of Western influence. How do we help, by God's grace, to rectify this? How do Americans begin to better regard our worldwide brothers and sisters as friends and equals in God's kingdom work?"
The latest
Unfinished issue gives suggestions to believers for how they can pray for the "new India," and offers further statistical trends, including demographics on religion, hunger and suicide, and the rise of social media.
Christian Missions in India Reportedly Facilitating 'Remarkable' Rise of Christianity
How do these Christians hide their % in census?
@jha @ashok mourya @timetravel @sreekumar @danger007
49 killed in Bodo militant attacks in Assam : Northeast, News - India Today
The Sangbijit Brahma faction of the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) on Tuesday killed 49 people, several of them women and children, in an almost simultaneous attack on Adivasi settlers in four locations spread in two districts of Assam-Kokrajhar and Sonitpur. The attacks, all believed to have been carried out with AK-series weapons, took place between 6.30 pm and 7.30 pm, according to police sources.
Two days ago, the militant group had issued a press release warning the government of violent retaliation if it did not stop police operations against the group. The same day, security forces had gunned down two NDFB-S militants at an encounter during the rescue operation of a businessman along the Kokrajhar-Chirang inter district border. In the last six months, the government has intensified operations against the outfit resulting in arrest and death of a large number of cadres. A huge cache of arms including AK series of rifles have also been seized.
The four places where the attacks took place are Pabhoi reserved forest and Batasipur in Sonitpur district and Serfanguri and Ultapani in Kokrajhar district. Assam DGP Khagen told mediapersons that the casualties were likely rise as the places of these attacks are very remote and information was still pouring in. According to police sources, the death toll was highest in Simangpara, an Adivasi settlement north of Pabhoi reserved forest, on the Assam Arunachal Pradesh border.
