Expressing its concerns over illegal religious conversions, increasing incidents of hate speech against Hindu beliefs and deities, as well as the demolition of temples, India’s top Hindu group Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) on Monday demanded that these activities be stopped immediately.
Addressing a press conference in Chennai, after a two-day meeting of the group's Central Governing council, VHP's joint general-secretary Dr Surendra Jain said that all state governments should pass a law to curb Illegal conversions and so-called Love Jihad, an alleged phenomenon where Muslim men force Hindu women to convert to Islam through marriage.
“The growing menace of the acquisition and demolition of temples by stealth, and hate speech against Hindu beliefs and deities must also be stopped now,” he said.
Describing illegal religious conversion as the biggest crime and violence against humanity, Jain said: “Mullah [mosque leaders], moulvi [Muslim religious scholars] and missionaries engage in this criminal activity, assuming that it is their religious right, and have been using all types of unconstitutional and unethical means to do so.”
Jain also applauded those states that have passed laws to stop illegal religious conversions but added that these still happen in some states because of their reluctance to act.
He cited the example of a girl from Thanjavur district in the east coast of Tamil Nadu who killed herself in January this year after she was allegedly tortured by her school authorities for refusing to convert to Christianity.
VHP also announced its action plan for 2024 as it said that more than 10 million members will be enrolled in the group.
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