BJP MP Sakshi Maharaj outside Parliament House, in New Delhi on Monday. (Source: Express photo)Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) will take up for discussion the controversial issues of “dharm parivartan” (religious conversion) and “paravartan” (returning to the fold) in its dharm sansad (religion parliament) at the annual Magh Mela on the banks of Sangam at Allahabad in January.
“The VHP always holds a dharm sansad (religion Parliament) in its Magh Mela camp. During this, discussions related to various aspects of the Hindu religion and the nation is taken up.
This time too such issues, including that of religious conversions and how to bring back into the fold those who have strayed, will be taken up. The sants will discuss the issue and the VHP will follow on the decisions taken by them for the next year,” said Pawan Srivastava, district VHP spokesperson.
Some of the sants who are likely to participate in the sansad are Badrikashram Shankaracharya Vasudevananda Saraswati, Swami Narendrananda Saraswati, the Shankaracharya of Kashi Sumeru Peeth Mahant Nritya Gopal Das, the head of the Ram Janmabhoomi Nyas Parishad. VHP leaders, including chief patron Ashok Singhal, and other office-bearers of the organisation.
Among the other issues to be taken up during the meeting would be construction of Ram temple, demographic imbalance with increasing population of Muslims and Islamic terrorism.
The VHP has maintained that nobody would be forced or given allurement to return to the Hindu fold. “The sants will give discourse on the issues and the aim would be to convince the people to return to their parent religion. We have never believed in anything being done forcibly. That is why we want a law against conversion,” said a VHP source.
Incidentally, it was during the VHP’s dharm sansad at Kumbh in 2013 when the sants had given call for Narendra Modi as Prime Minister. However, RSS chief Mohan Bhagvat, while refusing to take names, had warned people during the same meeting not to rely too much on only one person and, instead, keep the focus on raising public awareness.