UP BJP chief dissociates party from conversion mess

'We are against anything that is unconstitutional,' says Laxmikant Bajpai. Sharat Pradhan reports from Lucknow.

Laxmikant Bajpai, president of the Bharatiya Janata Party's Uttar Pradesh unit on Tuesday, December 16, dissociated his party from the controversial religious conversions, the so-called ghar wapsi (homecoming) programmes, conducted by Hindu fundamentalist organisations known for their proximity to the BJP.

"The BJP has nothing whatsoever to do with the exercise being carried out by self-styled Hindu organisations," Bajpai clarified on a day when Parliament was disrupted by Opposition protests on the conversions programme.

"We reiterate our stand against any such religious conversion that involves inducement or coercion; and that is the reason we have been advocating for legislation against religious conversions," Bajpai stressed.

"We are against anything that is unconstitutional," the BJP leader added.

On being asked if he considered the conversions exercise as "unconstitutional," Bajpai shirked away from a direct reply.

"Please wait for four days and you will get a reply to your question," he said.