The reconversion ceremony was conducted on the second day of the 'Hindu Mahasabha' where fiery speeches were made by VHP bigwigs.
CHAKAPAD/ORISSA: Amidst cries of 'Jai Shri Ram' and blowing of conch shells, 342 persons, said to be Christians, were reconverted to Hinduism at a huge congregation organised here by the Sangh parivar even as the VHP called for a total ban on conversion in the country.
The reconversion ceremony was conducted on the second day of the 'Hindu Mahasabha' where fiery speeches were made by VHP bigwigs.
The reconverted persons, who belonged to 74 families, were blessed by the Sankaracharya of Puri, Swami Nischalananda Saraswati.
Speaking on the occasion, VHP International President Ashok Singhal demanded that the Centre should enact a law to completely ban conversions from Hinduism.
However, there should not be any restriction on Christians if they wanted to return to their 'mother faith of Hinduism', he said while refusing to acknowledge as conversion the return of the people to Hinduism from Christianity.
Preachers of the Christian faith should be thrown out of the country, the VHP leader demanded.
"There is no need for anyone to teach religion to the people of this country as Indians are religious anyway," he said.
As per the provisions of the Orissa Freedom of Religion Act (OFRA), anyone desiring to change his religious faith would have to inform the administration beforehand.
Regretting that the provisions of the Act were not being strictly enforced by the state government, Singhal said the administration should rise to the occasion to prevent conversion through "allurement and fraudulent means."
The ban on cow slaughter was also not being observed strictly in the state, he said adding those violating the law should be dealt with severely.
The congregation was also being attended by RSS chief KS Sudarshan.
The top leadership of the Sangh Parivar also spoke at a meeting of sants who congregated here from different parts of the country.
Addressing them, several leaders including chairman of Vanbasi Kalyan Ashram, Jagdevram Oram, stressed the need to protect Hindu religion from the "conspiracy hatched by foreign religious leaders."
The Sankaracharya of Puri and VHP leader Laxmanananda Saraswati also spoke at the gathering.
About 5,000 RSS cadres have been engaged as volunteers at the conference which is slated to end on Monday.
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