Conversion activities are going unabated in the tribal belts of Chhattisgarh. Massive anger is brewing against those tribals who convert and are still taking benefits of the Scheduled Tribes provisions.
Tribals in the Bastar region of Chhattisgarh took out a massive rally to register their protest against conversion activities and press their demand that the converted tribals should not get the benefits of Scheduled Tribes provisions.
In the Narayanpur district of Bastar region, a mega rally was organised on April 26 by Janjati Suraksha Manch (JSM), an initiative of the Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram. Thousands of tribal people participated in the rally to bring awareness in the community and send a message to the administration to check the conversion activities taking place in the region.
The rally witnessed participation of over 110 villages in the district.
JSM is also organising a mega Janjati Sammelan in Jagdalpur on May 15. Former MP Dinesh Kashyap participated in a meeting Bakwand where it was decided that more activities will be taken up to make people aware about the dangers of conversion. Plans to make May 15 rally successful was also discussed.
To check the rising mobilisation by the tribals, the Chhattisgarh Police issued a circular to all the districts of the state passing a strict instruction that no rally be allowed without prior permission of the administration.
The Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) has been running a campaign to remove the converted tribals from the list of Scheduled Tribes.
In December last year, the VHP, in the meeting of its Central Board of Trustees and Governing Council, had passed an unanimous resolution demanding the Union government to make necessary amendments in the Constitution to exclude the converted tribal people from the list of Scheduled Tribes.
It had said that only the genuine tribes should get the reservation benefits.
“Many Courts in the country, including the Honourable Supreme Court, have on many occasions given rulings in this regard. How long will the tribal brothers and sisters be kept deprived of their constitutional rights?”, Shri Alok Kumar, International Working President VHP, had said.
Mosques and missionaries have been carrying out these unlawful conversions for hundreds of years. These vested interests have been continuously weakening the very foundations of the society.
“The Hindu society in Bharat has since ages lived in towns, villages and forests. Though there has been diversity in mode of worship according to their spiritual tradition, their inner being has always been one. It is said that conversion of individual is conversion of nationality. Efforts are being made to weaken India through the efforts to convert poor Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes people through coercion and allurements”, Shri Alok Kumar had added.
Multiple surveys have pointed out that the converted tribals form only 18% of the tribal population but usurp more than 80% of the reserved seats. The genuine beneficiaries are left out of the reservation benefits.
The VHP ran a successful nationwide campaign from December 20-31 to make people aware about the fraudulent conversions promoted by churches and mosques.
Missionaries have spent billions of dollars to convert tribal people to Christianity but have been successful in converting only 18% of such tribes. On the contrary, they have either converted or eliminated 100% aboriginals in the Americas, Australia, and New Zealand.
Missionaries have been adopting new means to convert tribals fraudulently. They are using various practices like calling churches a Dham or Mandir and wearing saffron robes, presenting Jesus as Krishna.
Under the same campaign, the VHP leadership met more than 300 MPs (Lok Sabha & Rajya Sabha) from various parties in the Winter Session of Parliament to discuss conversion issues and how to protect the rights of genuine Scheduled Tribes.
