LUCKNOW, INDIA, September 20, 2014 (Bhaskar News): Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) is spending close to US$82,000 every month to ‘re-convert 1,000 people to the Hindu religion. The organisation is spending close to $13,000 to $16,500 in Western UP alone as part of its Dharam Jagaran campaign.
“It takes an expense of $82 to re-convert a single family. A team of 100 workers is working round the clock and spreading awareness among the people about the pitfalls of religious conversion,” said Dharam Jagaran’s Western UP in-charge Rajeshwar Singh. These family members are then counselled by volunteers for re-conversion to Hinduism.
[For comparision, a 1989 Hinduism Today article, “The Big Business of Evangelizing,” (https://www.hinduismtoday.com/modules/smartsection/item.php?itemid=598) estimated from Christian reports that the cost of converting 177,000 Hindus over a period of ten years, from 1970 to 1980, was US$100 million, or almost $6,000 each.]
A volunteer from Shahjahanpur explained that once a family gets ready for re-conversion, the volunteers bear the expenses of their affidavit and other paperwork. A shudhi-yagya (purification ritual) is performed once the initial paperwork is complete. A public function is organised to ensure the re-converted family is accepted into the society.