Mohan Bhagwat, chief of Hindu nationalist organisation Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) is ready to covert the whole of India to Hinduism. Bhagwat’s comments came after BJP said it did not support forced religious conversions and called for an anti-conversion law. Modi is under fire for being slow to rein in hardline affiliate groups that have been accused of promoting a Hindu-dominant agenda that includes luring Muslims and Christians to convert to Hinduism. But Modi himself was an RSS member, and is also a hardliner. Did the “Modified” population of India forget this when voting him in? Were they too distracted by promises of economic development and dreams of Ipads for all?
Bhagwat said that those who do not support religious conversions should bring in a law against it. But a law that prohibits conversions could go against freedom of expression and may cause only further damage to the secularism in India (if it could be debated in parliament at all). And with the power of the BJP, what is to stop this law from hurting minorities, creating rules that detrimental to them? Hindu conversion to Islam has always been a problem for Hindu groups, and this could be one way to stop any future change in demographics. Currently there are a lot of conversions happening to Christianity and thus Bhagwat had announced a mass conversion on Christmas Day. Fortunately the government stopped this event from happening. Opposition parties that have disrupted parliament over the conversion issue, demanding that the prime minister himself make a statement on the issue in the upper house. But he is silent over the issue of minority harassment, as usual.
Modi’s BJP won the biggest mandate in 30 years in May and hoped for numbers to control parliament and ensure the smooth passage of legislation. But the BJP lacks a majority in the upper house. Outrage in the parliament could have disrupted the Modi government’s plans to pass a series of major economic reforms through parliament that include opening the insurance sector to foreign investment as well as a national sales tax. But the BJP played their cards well. Its almost like they are fixing the game so that a bill is passed to stops conversions. The BJP “dared” secular forced to support an anti-conversion law. Like a bully daring a weaker child to take a swing at him.