SC order says Ghar Wapsi not illegal, claims Vishwa Hindu Parishad head

BELAGAVI: Ghar Wapsi (homecoming) is not unconstitutional, according to a Supreme Court order, and will be continued across the country, Vishwa Hindu Parishad head Praveen Togadia said in Belagavi on Wednesday.

He told reporters the Supreme Court, in its 1977 order, had said "Hindu is a way of life".

Those who converted to other religions years ago and are reaccepting Hinduism now is not conversion and they will be welcomed. Our aim is making India as Hindu a country as it was once upon a time, Togadia said.

He said homecoming was started 700 years ago by Ramanujacharya at Ayodhya, by converting 25,000 Muslims. Similarly, Vidyaranya Saraswati, Chhatrapati Shivaji and Swami Shraddhananda have also done it on a large scale, he said, and refuted that Ghar Wapsi derails the country's development. He also said that Parliament should bring in a law banning conversion.

Responding to the suppression of scheduled castes and tribes among Hindus, Togadia said the VHP is taking up a programme to bring SC/ST communities into the mainstream of the community. Events like Brahmins eating food cooked by SC/ST people, and vice-versa, mass entry into temples and permission to worship Hindu deities are planned for the golden jubilee celebrations of the VHP, Togadia said.

He was in Belagavi to attend the Virat Hindu Samavesh organized at Gokak on Wednesday. MP Suresh Angadi, Rajya Sabha member Prabhakar Kore, MLA Balachandra Jarkiholi and MLC Mahantesh Kavatagimath were part of the Samavesh.