'Ghar Wapsi' row: VHP softens its tone, says it is a long-time goal

NEW DELHI: A day after the removal of Rajeshwar Singh, an RSS pracharak, involved in some of the reconversion or ' Ghar Wapsi' programme of the Sangh Parivar from his assignment, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad ( VHP) also tried to cast a different light on the programme.

"Ghar Wapsi is not a factory production programme, this is our longtime goal and there is a difference between it and conversion. Since Rajeshwar Singh is not a full-time member of VHP, we have no comment to offer on his withdrawing from the programme," said national general secretary of VHP, Champat Rai. Singh is known to be close to VHP international working president Praveen Togadia, often referred to as Prime Minister Narendra Modi's bête noire.

News reports of Singh's attempts at a 'Ghar Wapsi' programme in UP created a controversy, which gridlocked Parliament for most of the winter Session. VHP's stridency on the issue was missing when questioned about the organisation's resolution in its meeting of December 28-29, of pressing the government for an anti-conversion law.

"We will urge the government for a law like this, and hope that it responds positively. We have no plans for any andolan or anything, but we will think about all the hard work put in by us to remove a government which was so inherently anti-Hindu," said Rai, a clear reference to the way the entire Sangh Parivar rallied behind the Narendra Modi campaign.

He insisted that the 'Ghar Wapsi 'programme was a "reclamation" project of Indian society. "Nobody became Muslims or Christians in this country because of caste system, all conversions happened in the shade of swords," he said. "In this programme, we ask Hindu caste members of a particular community from where conversions have taken place to help create an environment wherein 'Ghar Wapsi' can take place," he said.

VHP said that this programme was running before this government came to power and will go on regardless. "You people have unnecessarily given it a more recent cast, it's an old programme," Rai said.