Source: Hindustan Times
WEST BENGAL, INDIA, August 22, 2002: The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) on Thursday brought back to Hinduism one Muslim and six Christian families at a paribartan (“transformation”) ceremony in the West Bengal’s Malda district. The ceremony, which took place in Bharat Sevashram Sangh’s ashram at Tajpur, kicks off a reconversion program planned by the VHP in the adivasi (tribal) belt of the district, claimed senior VHP leaders. The families all filed affidavits before a local Malda court last week swearing that they were converting to Hinduism of their own free will. VHP spokesman Ajoy Kumar Nandi said, “We’ll be intensifying our paribartan program to bring back people who were lured into Christianity and Islam.” The reconverted families confirmed Nandi’s charges. “We were lured into Christianity by offers of food, medicines, education, money and building materials. But the promises did not materialize. We then realized it was wrong to have embraced Christianity, and so we are coming back to our religion,”said Raja Hansda of Srirampur village.