Author: R. Ilangovan
Publication: The Hindu
Date: October 21, 2002
URL: http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/2002/10/21/stories/2002102104860400.htm
In a sharp reaction to the spontaneous
consolidation of minorities and secularists against the Tamil Nadu Government
Prohibition of Forcible Conversion of Religion Ordinance, Hindu leaders
and heads of various mutts have extended `wholehearted' support to the
Chief Minister, Jayalalithaa, for taking a "bold and timely" step to stop
conversions in the State.
Participants at the one-day `Anti-conversion
and Hindu awakening' conference, organised by the Hindu Awareness Movement
here today, called upon their cadres to "eschew casteist differences and
untouchability'' so that a united Hindu society could be formed to counter
the "alien threats to Hinduism'' and issued a stern warning to political
parties opposing the ordinance under the "garb of secularism". "The Hindu
voters will reject them in future,'' they said.
The conference urged the members
of the Assembly to set aside their political differences and accord legislative
sanction to the ordinance and wanted other States to promulgate a similar
ordinance. The concessions that are being extended to minority institutions
should be provided to the Hindu institutions too, it said.
The meet called for stringent action
against minority organisations, which threaten to close down their institutions
and urged the Hindu leaders and mutt heads to take steps to form village-level
committees for eradicating untouchability.
`Crime against society'
The VHP's international general
secretary, Praveen Togadia, in his special address, said the Tamil Nadu
Government's ordinance was not against any religion. Neither Buddhists
nor Parsees opposed it. Calling the conversion a crime against society,
the VHP leader said it would `denationalise Bharath.'
Mr.Togadia said the Supreme Court,
in its historical ruling in 1977 in the Stanislaus vs. State of Madhya
Pradesh case, held that the right to propagate one's religion did not include
the right to convert.
The Hindu Munnani's founder-leader,
Rama Gopalan, justified the need for the ordinance. Each Hindu leader and
mutt should adopt a taluk to achieve the objective of forming `conversion-free'
zones.
The conference was attended by a
large number of cadres and senior leaders from the State's Sangh Parivar
outfits, including the VHP, the RSS and the Hindu Munnani and the BJP.
The heads of the mutts from Madurai,
Thiruvaduthurai, Perur, Dharmapuram, Gowmaramadam and Vadalur endorsed
the decision of the conference.
The Union Minister, Pon.Radhakrishnan,
C.P.Radhakrishnan, MP, and H.Raja, MLA, participated. Swami Dayananda Saraswathi
of Anaikatti Aarshavidya Gurukul, presided.
