The Concept of India a Hindustan continues...

As Chief minister of Tamil Nadu, Ms. Jayalalithaa brought into law a statute titled Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Forcible Conversion of Religion, but soon she had to beat a hasty retreat when the US Consul General based in Chennai met her and apprised her that the said statute violated US law on religious freedom. Ms. Jayalalithaa, though claiming to be a staunch Hindu, was devoid of courage and did not press the law. This was a sad capitulation for Indians in general and Tamils in particular. That is the mindset that we need to combat and alter.

I must make clear here however that I do not oppose voluntary and unforced conversion to Hinduism of those presently of the Semitic religions, such as Christians and Muslims of India, because all Indians, except Parsis and Jews are either Hindus or those whose ancestors were Hindus. Their becoming Hindus amounts to re-conversion and a return to the Hindu fold. For most Christians and Muslims in India, the conversion of their ancestors in the past was coerced openly, crudely, savagely, or subtly, but it was not voluntary. One has to read what happened to Guru Tegh Bahadur to imagine what else must have happened in the country to make Hindus to convert. Today, every Muslim and Christian in India is a living example of that despicable violence against the Hindus. We may try to understand what and why it had happened in the past, but we should not forget the lesson embedded in the brutally forced conversions that did take place. We should therefore all be thankful to Swami Dayananda Saraswati for his open letter to Pope John Paul II, during the latter’s visit to New Delhi in 1999 to preach the Gospel. In that letter the Swamiji boldly stated:
“Religious conversion destroys centuries-old communities and incites communal violence. It is violence, and it breeds violence”
[www.hindnet.org/conversion/pope99/].

to be continued...

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