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Dalit groups in UP use 'ghar wapsi' as bargaining chip

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Certain underprivileged Hindu communities such as the Dalits and the Valmikis are using 'Ghar wapsi' as a bargaining chip to  demand better treatment. Firstpost reports of two instances in Meerut and Agra where Hindu groups have been asking for certain demands to be met, threatening to convert to other religions if refused.

According to the report, members of ten Dalit families in Meerut district have asked that they be allowed to worship at a famous Valmiki temple in Balaini. The group has set a deadline of January 26 the families have said should their demands not be accepted, they will convert to Islam. Certain locals say that the issue may have to do not with worshipping at the temple but with the land adjacent to temple. The families want to use the to carry out a shobha yatra to the temple and the temple priest is said to have disallowed use of the land. Local leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad are also reportedly getting involved in the matter  even as the local administration tries to calm the situation.

In Agra, a group of Hindus in Sikandrapur are using the same method to have their longstanding demands for better facilities met. The group had threatened to quit Hinduism but have been temporarily allayed by an assurance from Fatehpur Sikri BJP MP Babu Lal Choudhary the meeting has been put off.

The reports says that conversions that take place simply to facilitate inter-faith marriages have been voided by a recent ruling of the Allahabad High Court.

The Ghar Wapsi row came to the fore on December 8, in Agra, when at least 100 persons from 37 families were reportedly re-converted to Hinduism at a ceremony organised by an offshoot of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). The incident led to uproar in Parliament with a united opposition stalling Rajya Sabha and pressing for a response from Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the issue. 

To quell the matter, Union Minister of State for Minority Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi had said that a national level anti-conversion law could be brought if all political parties agree to it."If everybody is ready and if all political parties are ready, then anti-conversion law should be passed. Many states have an anti-conversion law. Conversion is not a new issue. It's an old issue. There is no problem in bringing a law against forceful conversion, but all political parties and people should agree to it," he said. 

The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) wanted its 'Ghar wapsi' programs, as part of which thousands of Muslims and Christians have been made to convert to Hinduism, to be left out of this legislation. They justified their stance saying they were reconverting people to their original faith.

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