BHUBANESWAR: General secretary of the Rastriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) Dattatreya Hosabale on Tuesday said ‘ghar wapsi’ of converted Hindus was an act of correction rather than conversion. However, the return to the Hindu fold should be voluntary.
Even non-Hindu foreigners accepting Hinduism is welcome, but the RSS is strongly opposed to forced conversion by any religion, he said. Interacting with mediapersons during his visit to Odisha as part of the mass outreach programme in the centenary year of RSS, Hosabale, the second most important functionary in the RSS hierarchy, also acknowledged the problems and issues faced by those people who do ‘ghar wapsi’. They are not readily accepted by their communities.
“It is often seen that many Hindu communities show reservation to accept them (after their reconversion) and temples do not allow them to enter. The RSS has no role to play here as this is a religious matter,” he said. Hosabale, however, said that there are other shrines which do not object to their entry. It is a matter to be decided by the temple authorities and religious heads, he said.
He also said conversion activities by other religions have continued unhindered across the country, including Odisha, despite the fact the BJP is in power at the Centre and most of the states. Conversion activities have increased in Odisha after the murder of VHP leader Laxmananda Saraswati.
The fight spearheaded by Laxmananda Saraswati has died down and not many the Sadhus and Sants have shown the aggressiveness to stop conversion, he said. He, however, parried a question on the legislation of a national anti-conversion law as has been demanded by RSS for a long time.