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'Ghar wapsi' big bluff, organised drama: Christian forum
Kolkata, Feb 4
A forum for Christians in West
Bengal Wednesday said the alleged forced religious reconversion of
tribals was a "big bluff" and a "cunningly organised drama" to falsely
propagate the so-called "ghar wapsi" ceremony.
The claims by the
Bangiya Christiya Pariseba (BCP) - or the United State Forum for all
denominational Christians - comes amid reports of alleged forced
religious conversion of over 100 tribals in Bengal.
A police
complaint was earlier registered against Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP)
chief Pravin Togadia and functionary Jugal Kishore for hurting religious
sentiments.
"The incident of reconversion of some Christians in a
Hindu 'ghar wapsi' programme at Kharmadanga in Birbhum Jan 28 was a big
bluff. It was a cunningly organised drama to make a false propagation
of so-called 'ghar wapsi' ceremony," said BCP's state working president
Herod Mullick while releasing the findings.
"According to the
record of the nearest church located three km from Kharmadanga, no
Christian family has ever lived in that village," said Mullick.
He
said a BCP fact-finding team reached Rampurhat Feb 2 to collect facts,
but the team was surprised to find that the information of their visit
had somehow leaked.
They visited Barpahari Catholic Church, three-four km from the village where the 'ghar wapsi' programme was held.
All the nearby Christian families are attached to that church as its registered bona fide members, he said.
The
team spoke to Father Peter Munna Soren, assistant parish priest, and
some Christians from two villages - Bhatina and Matimahal - adjacent to
Kharmadanga.
Mullick said that despite "invitations and
allurement", no one from the 32 Christian families from surrounding
villages attended the Jan 28 Kharmadanga Hindu 'ghar wapsi' ceremony.
He
said an identical Hindu programme, aimed at false propagation, was
undertaken in the nearby tribal village Bhatina Feb 27, 2000.
Another 'ghar wapsi' was held in Popra village, 15 km from Malda town in April 2002.
"The
team was convinced that the so-called 'ghar wapsi' programme of
Kharmadanga was a carefully engineered drama, similar to the incidents
in Bhatina and Popra, to supplement the reconversion programme with
three primary mischievous goals," Mullick said.
He said the three
reasons were "to demoralise and put pressure on Christians and priests,
including nuns and other church workers, to encourage and motivate
their various Hindu wings and branches across the country to organise
identical programmes aimed at cornering Christians further, and to
deliver an innocent message to the nation that the ethnic tribal people
are originally Hindu".
He said the BCP has decided to send a
memorandum to the state and union home ministers, Human Rights Watch and
other international rights groups to make a proper inquiry to unearth
the truth behind the incident in Kharmadanga.
The Trinamool
Congress has alleged that the VHP conducted a "ghar wapsi" ceremony in
Kharmadanga village in Birbhum district during which over 100 Christians
were "forcibly" converted.
The VHP has denied the charges of
conversion but claimed that a Hindu religious ceremony was conducted
that saw the participation of more than 1,000 people from the village,
including Muslims and Christians.