Shri Madan Dilawar is among those BJP leaders, who are proud of their association with Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). He has no qualms in admitting that, as a minister, he is instilling good values into the people, which he has learnt as a swayamsevak. At times, some of his decisions courted controversies. It was he who had introduced the Bhojan Mantra in the hotels, run by the Special Welfare Department. Again, it was he who had raised the issue of EMI bringing the innocent children to Kota with a nefarious purpose for converting them to Christianity. This is his fourth uninterrupted term as MLA. He was Minister in the previous BJP government, headed by Bhairon Singh Shekhawat. Given below are excerpts from his interview with Lokpal Sethi.
How do you feel when Rajasthan High Court has vindicated the stand of Cooperative Department for cancelling the registration of five institutions run by EMI?
From the very beginning, I am repeatedly saying that there is no truth in the claim of these missionary organisations, active in the state, that their activities were confined only to the field of education and welfare of the poor and that they do not indulge in conversion activities. But the truth is that the main objective of these missionary organisations is to convert the innocent people to Christianity and they camouflage their activities under the garb of running educational and other such institutions.
But under the Constitution, every citizen of the country has the right to practice any religion of his/her choice?
Yes, under the Constitution there is religious freedom to all the citizens. But the Constitution also provides that if someone tries to convert any citizen by use of force, bribe or allurement, then it is illegal. That was the precise reason for the State Assembly to pass the legislation aimed at checking the illegal conversion activities. If the provisions of the legislation are enforced strictly, it would definitely stop the illegal conversion.
There are allegations, levelled by some Hindu organisations, that some missionary organisations receive funds from abroad to carry out conversion activities?
These kinds of allegations are being made frequently and are carried by the media. The truth is that some missionary organisations were getting funds from the western countries on the pretext that they were propagating education among the illiterate and the poor and were carrying out welfare activities. But, the funds were being misused for conversion purpose. That is the reason that during the past few decades the number of Christians in the north-eastern states have gone up by many folds.
About a year back, the activists of Bajrang Dal lodged a complaint with police that EMI had brought a large number of teenagers from other states to convert them to Christianity?
Yes, the case was registered. The police are still investigating the case. According to my information, the police have got enough evidence to prove this case.
