Gandhiji was opposed to religious conversions

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The great hue and cry is being raised these days both by the Cental Government and psuedo-secularist over the so-called atrocities perpetrated by the said Hindus?fundamentalists, particularly Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal activists against Christians. The alligators?. are finely playing the role of ?Lady Macbeth.? The Cental government in order to please Sonia Gandhi is directing its undue ire against Orissa and Karnataka governments. But I would like to ask them do they not know about the conversion activities run on a mass scale in tribal areas all over the country since long by fraud and force. Do they not remember the findings of Niyogi Commission Report, which was appointed not by Jan Sangh or BJP but by Late Ravi Shankar Shukla, the then Congress Chief Minister of Cental Provinces and Bear. It was the Nehru era and then nobody had objected to its findings that christian missionaries convert Vanvasis by fraud and force due to their ignorance and poverty.

Here I would also like to renuid the supporters of Christian missionaries about the nefarious conversion activities that the great Mahatma Gandhi had openly opposed their fraudulent activities and he always professed himself to be a Sanatani Hindu and we all know that only a Hindu believes in the equality of all faiths. No Muslim or Christian says that all faiths and religious are equal. That is why Muslims and Christians resort to conversions.

Further more, I would like to remind our reader that Gandhiji was very much disgusted with missionary activities. So he asked his staunch follower Thakkar Bapa to work and devote himself whole?heartedly among the tribals and Bapa laid down and exemplary example of selfless service and devotion. Many of us might not be knowing that Thakkar Bapa was an engineer by profession. He had passed engineering from Pune in 1890 and had been in service in Africa and Bombay. But he left his government job against the wishes of his employers and family members simply to devote and dedicate himself to uplift the poor. He was held in high esteems by Gandhiji and all his colleagues. He was regarded as a synonym of simplicity and honesty. He worked among the tribals till his last days.

The Second Sarsanghchalak of RSS Sri Guruji (M.S. Golwalkar) had much appreciation for Thakkar Bapa and his unprecedented record of selfless service for the poor tribals, so he sent Bala Saheb Deshpande, an advocate from Nagpur to work among the tribals and thus carry forward the work of Thakkar Bapa which he did very well till his death. For this, he founded Vanvasi Kalayan Ashram, which has now earned a reputation in this field.

I would also like to remind the present generation that Muslims in their zeal had dared to convert Gandhiji'seldest son Hira Lal Gandhi by offering him some allurements and named him Abdulla Gandhi.

Gandhiji was never pleased with his son and regarded him almost a rascal. Even then, after this incident of conversion, he felt annoyed although he did not express his strong resentment openly. He expressed it in an oblique way. He asked his Muslim friends,

?When they convert a person into their religion, can his ancestors also change? Can the grand father and great grand fathers of my converted son change?? Here, I must remind our readers that later on Hira Lal Gandhi was reconverted into Hinduism by Arya Samaj. Thus, we can easily understand Gandhiji'sviews about religious conversions which are causing a havoc and disturbing communal harmony and peace in the country.

I feel, since Sonia Gandhi came at the helm of affairs in our country, conversion activities of Christian missionaries increased day by day unchecked.

Some time back, a Christian missionary was asked to leave the country by the government due to his anti-national activities but after Sonia'sintervention he was saved. Man Mohan Singh and Patil are only her spokespersons and puppets.

(The writer can be contacted at 6/769, Vivekanand Puri, near Saraswati Shiksha Mandir, Civil Lines, Sitapur-261 001.)

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