39 Christians reconverted to Hinduism in Kerala.

‘Ghar wapsi’ in Kerala: 39 dalit Christians re-converted to Hinduism in Alapuzha.

HENB | ALAPPUZHA | JULY 20, 2015:: In a remarkable ghar wapsi (Reconversion – Returning Home) programme, 39 people from 11 dalit Christian families in Alapuzha district in Kerala were reconverted into Hinduism by the Viswha Hindu Parishad (VHP) on Sunday, July 19. This indicates that the frustrated dalit Christian families are leaving their boring Syro- Malabar cult under Christianity maladies.

The ceremony was held from 6 am to 10 am at Nallaveetil Bhadrakali temple near Cheriyanadu in the district.

Several VHP and Arya Samaj leaders were in attendance. Ganapathi homam and shudhi homam were done for the ‘purification’ of the converts and they were also told to recite Gayathri Manthra as the final step of the ritual.

“We are moving ahead with our initiative and more families from other religions will be reconverted to Hinduism soon. We are being approached by many people who want to come back to their original faith,” said VHP Alappuzha district chief Prathap G Padickal, the main organizer of the event.

Read also: Ghar Wapsi: 16 persons embrace Hindusim in Kerala’s Kottayam district

Alapuzha has become one of the breeding grounds for such activities, the first ‘ghar wapsi in Kerala state was conducted in Haripad. The programme was held last year on December 21 in which 30 dalit Christians were converted into Hinduism.Dalit Christians are the ones who belong to Pentecostal and other non-Catholic and non-Syrian Christian denominations. They are denied reservations that are received by other Hindu dalit communities, thus they are coming under the fold of VHP.

The VHP is planning to conduct more such programmes of this sort and soon more families from other religions will be re-converted to Hinduism. In the last three months, the VHP has organised re-conversion programmes in the districts of Alappuzha and Idukki. They, with the help of other Hindu organisations will be organising ‘ghar wapsi’ programmes on all Sundays in different parts of Kerala, according to sources.

Read also: Ghar Wapsi in Kerala: 30 Christians converted to Hinduism by VHP

After a spate of conversion programmes by VHP in various places in the state, the UDF government created a Rs 5 crore corpus to set up a commission to find ways to integrate ‘converted Christians’ into the social mainstream.

Alappuzha Bishop Stephen Athipozhyil’s office informed the media that the church has decided not to air any statements in connection with ghar wapsi. “We do not want to give any importance to this issue. So we want to keep away from commenting on this programme,” a spokesperson said.

Base Report: TOI.