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Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday asked: “Is conversion necessary? Can social service not be performed in India without resorting to conversion?”

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh with Minister of Science and Technology Jitendra Singh and Union Minister for Minority Affairs Najma Heptulla (right) during Annual conference of State Minorities Commissions in New Delhi on Monday. Photo: Sandeep Saxena

He was delivering the inaugural address at the Annual Conference of State Minorities Commissions here.

“Why is it not possible for all religions to prosper without promoting conversions in India? How can a country like India allow changes in its demographic profile and character?” he asked.

Mr. Singh spoke about conversion and ‘ghar vapsi,’ pointing out that in other countries it was the minorities who demand ‘anti-conversion laws’ for their protection and urged all minority communities to debate this issue openly.

’Minorities are patriots’

Terming Mr. Singh’s comments on conversion as a veiled message to minorities to confine themselves to their respective faiths and not interact with society, Prabha Joseph, member of the Andhra Pradesh Minorities Commission, said: “If the conversion propaganda against Christians was true then the community would have been larger than two per cent of the population as till very recently we ran a large number of private schools and hospitals in the country. Several BJP leaders studied in our schools; were they converted?’’

Apart from prising open the conversion debate — partially capped since Prime Minister Narendra Modi last month said “everyone has the undeniable right to retain or adopt the religion of his or her choice without coercion or undue influence” — Mr. Singh sought to assure the gathering at the Annual Conference of State Minorities Commissions here that the government would do everything to protect the minorities and allay the sense of fear gripping them.

In an oblique reference to some Sangh Parivar outfits questioning the patriotism of the minorities, he said: “I believe the minorities of our country are patriots and their patriotism should not be questioned.”

Further, he dwelt on India’s diversity; stating that this is a country which respects all religions and believes in peaceful co-existence. “We have all 72 sects of Islam living here peacefully,” he said. Without directly referring to Sangh Parivar propaganda of Christianity being brought to India by the colonial powers, he flagged the fact that Kerala houses one of the oldest churches in the world.

After the day-long deliberations, participants uniformly stressed the importance of India’s multi-religious character and emphasised the need for the country to develop as a whole.