AHMEDABAD - Hardline Hindu groups came under fire Sunday after some 200 Christians were converted in the Indian prime minister's home state, amid increasing concern at the right-wing government's perceived pro-Hindu tilt.
The radical Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP or World Hindu Council) said it converted Christian tribal people to their original Hindu faith in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's western home state of Gujarat late Saturday.
The mass event drew widespread criticism from Christian groups and Modi's political opponents on Sunday. They accused radical organisations linked to Modi's ruling party, like the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), of forcing or enticing religious minorities to convert to Hinduism.
"Extreme right wing is flexing its muscles. VHP/RSS through Hindutatva ("Hinduness") ... rewriting history and economic policies," Digvijay Singh, a leader of the opposition Congress party, posted on Twitter early Sunday.
A Gujarat-based priest said he could not "accept that anyone who has been a Christian will convert to other religion by personal choice".
"VHP is forcing people and luring them to convert their religion," Father Dominic was quoted as saying by Zee News channel's website.
Saturday's mass ceremony took place in a tribal village 350 kilometres south of the state capital Ahmedabad.
It happened hours after Modi's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its ideological mentor RSS called for a new law to ban "forced religious conversions".
"Over 200 people were asked to throw their religious pendants in a holy fire and were given new pendants with the image of (Hindu) Lord Rama," Ajit Solanki, a Gujarat state VHP secretary, told AFP.
Solanki however denied using any kind of force or monetary promises, maintaining that the conversions were voluntary.
The world's most populous democracy is a secular country under the constitution and religious freedom is considered a fundamental right.
The issue of mass conversions has paralysed India's parliament, with opposition lawmakers demanding Modi make a statement on earlier reports of poor Muslims being coerced into Hinduism.
A hardline group linked to the BJP was accused of converting some 50 slum-dwelling Muslim families about a week ago in the Taj Mahal city of Agra.
One of the converts told AFP they were promised ration cards and other financial incentives if they switched religions.
Critics say Hindu hardline groups have become emboldened since the BJP was elected, promoting a Hindu-dominant agenda.
Modi, who spent his early years in the RSS, has made no comment on religious issues since becoming premier.
He was himself accused of failing to curb 2002 anti-Muslim riots that claimed at least 1,000 lives when he was chief minister of Gujarat.
He has always rejected the accusations and India's Supreme Court found no evidence to prosecute him.
India is 80 percent Hindu while Muslims make up 13.4 percent of the 1.2 billion population. Christians, Buddhists, Sikhs and other religions account for the rest.
Meanwhile, the head of India's most powerful Hindu group vowed to press ahead with a campaign to convert Muslims and Christians to Hinduism, stoking a sensitive debate that has stalled parliament and threatened the prime minister's economic reform agenda.
Mohan Bhagwat of the right-wing Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh, which is also the ideological wing of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's party, said India was a "Hindu nation" where many Hindus had been forcibly converted to other religions.
"We will bring back those who have lost their way. They did not go on their own," Bhagwat said in a speech late on Saturday. "They were lured into leaving."
Bhagwat's comments came after Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party said it did not support forced religious conversions and called for an anti-conversion law.
BOMB KILLS THREE MANIPUR
Three people were killed and four others wounded in a bomb attack early Sunday in India's restive northeast, police said, the second strike in the area in less than a week.
The blast shook west Imphal, state capital of Manipur, which borders Myanmar - an area that has been plagued by separatist violence for decades.
"Three labourers were killed in the blast and four more injured," senior state police official A. Singh told AFP by telephone from Imphal.
An IED (improvised explosive device) was planted close to a bus depot and went off early Sunday morning, Singh added.
No rebel group has claimed responsibility for the attack and it was not immediately clear what the motive was.
The blast was the second such strike in Imphal in less than a week. On December 15, a similar explosion killed one person and injured five others.
The remote state has long been affected by insurgent violence and is home to dozens of tribal groups and small guerrilla armies fighting New Delhi's rule.
They often compete against each other in turf wars for dominance in the state.
At least 50,000 people have lost their lives in insurgency-driven violence in six of India's seven northeastern states since the country's independence from Britain in 1947, authorities say.
The militants say the northeast has been largely neglected by India's political leaders, accusing them of focusing only on the development of the country's relatively wealthier eight northern states.