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Right to convert is not part of religious freedom, says Govindacharya

Bharatiya Janata Party national general secretary K N Govindacharaya has said the right to propagate a religion as enshrined in the Constitution did not necessarily imply the right to convert people from other religions.

''Conversions taking place by means of allurement, fear and fraudulent activities are illegal, and a serious debate on the subject of conversion is needed if it goes against social unity,'' Govindacharaya told newspersons.

''There is no reason for the BJP to feel embarrassed because of its association with outfits like the RSS and the VHP and we don't think that they are tarnishing the government's image in any way,'' Govindacharya said, advising the media to ask the allies of the BJP to explain how the government's image was being tarnished by these groups if they really think so.

''So far the government is concerned the national agenda formulated by the BJP and its allies is the only agenda we have for running the government. But the BJP will not sever its ties with the RSS or VHP because it is nationalism which binds them with the BJP,'' Govindacharaya said, adding that Dara Singh, the prime accused of the Staines killing, was not a member of either of them. ''On the first day of the killing, Orissa Chief Minister J B Patnaik had said that the killers had shouted slogans like 'Bajrang Bali Ki Jai' while the next day he said they had shouted 'Bajrang Dal Ki Jai','' Govindacharaya said, alleging inconsistency in the statement of Patnaik.

On the recent statements of Trinamul Congress leader Mamta Banerjee and other allies following the grisly killing of Christian missionary Graham Stewart Staines and his two sons, the BJP leader said, ''Banerjee is free to express her opinion but it does not mean that she will withdraw support from the government.''

Meanwhile, BJP MP from Balasore in Orissa, M A Kharabel Swain, at a press conference at the same venue today said Mamata Banerjee had done a criminal offence by making adverse comments against Union Home Minister L K Advani who had earlier given a clean chit to the Bajrang Dal in the missionary murder case.

''I am challenging Banerjee to prove that the Bajrang Dal was behind the incident,'' Swain, also an RSS member, said, claiming that he has clinching evidence to prove that all the main five accused arrested in connection with the murder were Congress sympathisers.

Presenting copies to the press of what he called transcripts of taped conversation between him and the accused at the Anandpur jail where they are lodged now, Swain alleged that all the accused -- Lalit, Sudam, Subash, Rabindra, Khutish -- were voters or supporters of the Congress.

However, when pressed by mediapersons on why one should believe the accused when they said they were Congress voters and disbelieve them when they deny committing the crime, Swain said, ''It is up to you to believe or not what I have gathered from them by clandestinely tape-recording their talks in the jail''.

''I am no defender of Dara Singh but the perception that the accused belongs to Bajrang Dal is wrong. Let the law take its own course,'' Swain said.

However, Swain, in the same breath, added that Staines was killed because the tribals ''believed'' he was a ''social criminal'' and that Staines was active in converting people to Christianity and causing upheavals in the tribal society by altering their social customs.

UNI

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