Prabhu Narayan Srivastava, a senior RSS leader of Uttar Pradesh, admitted that untouchability and discrimination on caste lines promoted by Hindu society was a weakness that pushed the deprived sections to convert to other religions. Significantly, he also opined that for this very reason, he would not blame Christians and Muslims for converting members of the deprived castes to their respective religions! 

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Srivastava would be interested to learn that four to five centuries after their ancestors were converted by Portuguese missionaries, Catholics in Goa and Mumbai / Vasai region still identify themselves by their caste, at least in their marriages. A Bhandari (toddy tappers community) will marry only a Bhandari and an Agri (salt panner community) only an Agri. My own maternal grandmother always boasted of being a ‘Sardesai’ and hit the roof when her only son, sent to Portugal for higher education, married a Portuguese (European) classmate. Discrimination was confined to the marriage market. It did not trespass into the Church, where the priest was more often than not a non-Brahmin, or to the social or sports arena. The Portuguese rulers had attempted to bury caste by changing the surnames of the newly-converted. Hindu surnames reflected caste configurations. These were discarded at the time of conversion and the surname of the Portuguese (sometimes Spanish) priest who presided over the Baptism ceremony, was given to all families, irrespective of caste, converted by that priest on that day. The Portuguese did not succeed in their plan. The newly named D’Souzas, Fernandes, Pereiras knew exactly which caste their forefathers belonged to and confined marriages, and even friendships, to their own castes! This continued for four to five centuries and it is only in the past two or three decades that the position has changed. In a big city like Mumbai for instance, the caste reality among Catholics has become irrelevant.  I see a similar happy trend among Hindus. Inter-caste marriages, even inter-religious ones, are much more frequent now, especially among offsprings of defence service and civil service officers. Other “pseudo-secular” components of society are also getting involved in this happy exercise in integration. Another welcome fact of modern urban social change is that partners in mixed-religious marriages continue to identify themselves by the religions of their birth. Both my own nephews married Hindu girls. Neither girl has changed her religion, not incidentally her maiden name. One of my two daughters and one of my three granddaughters have married non-Christians. None changed religions, nor did the issue feature in pre-nuptial discourse. Conversions are obviously troubling the Hindu right and providing fodder for their animosity against Christians. Personally, I have not noticed any conversions, possibly because I am urban-based. In the rural areas, the story may perhaps be different. As one who does not subscribe to conversions myself, I would like to be enlightened. The recently published census figures reveal a tiny decrease in the percentage of Christians to the total population. That could be because the size of the Christian family is becoming smaller, in which case the fact of conversions taking place apace will need a separate set of data.  I admit that conversions that transpire through inducements (conversion by the sword is a thing of the past) are not real conversions and should be discouraged by the law and also by elders of the religion that indulges in such practices. The mainstream Christian churches frown upon such methods. They rely on the power of good works and good examples to bring about a change of heart. The Hindu right should counter such conversions by starting schools, hospitals and service centres for the needy and disabled, in line with the Christian institutions and clergy who devote their lives to distressed humanity. The competition will help the poor and the helpless, most of whom are neglected by the Indian State because of the sheer numbers. This then should be the solution to the problem of conversions and not resort to muscle power and rabid verbal attacks. The solution advocated by Shri Srivastava is valid, but will take much more time to bring to fruition because caste system and untouchability are too imbedded in the Hindu social order to exterminate in a hurry. I was happy to read that VHP’s Togadia has also decided to concentrate on abolishing untouchability, which is a sad blot on human dignity. Fighting untouchability is a much more civilized way of approaching the problem of conversions than unleashing the Bajrang Dal on peaceful people.