Days after the Karnataka government passed the contentious anti-conversion Bill, BJP MP Tejasvi Surya once more called for ‘ghar wapsi’ (religious conversion to Hinduism) of Muslims and Christians in India. In a recent speech in Udupi, the MP said that groups who converted to other religions during the course of India’s history must be reconverted to Hinduism on a “war footing.”
Speaking at an event held at the Udupi Krishna Mutt on Saturday, December 25, the MP said that in order to make the Hindu ideology stronger, “Western” ideas such as Communism, “Meccaism” and colonialism – forces that he believes aim to “destroy” the Sanatan dharma – must be understood, in order to “defeat the enemy.” “If you do not know who your enemy is, you can never put up a defence,” he said, adding that identifying those who are responsible for trying to erase Hinduism from the world “is essential” for the survival of the Hindu race.
Videos of this provocative speech by Tejasvi Surya, which was live-streamed on Saturday, have gone viral on social media. In one such clip, he is heard saying, “The only option left for the Hindus is to re-convert all those who have gone out of the Hindu fold. There is no other solution. We wonder whether it is possible, because it does not come naturally to us. But today, we must evolve. This metamorphosis must come in our DNA.”
“We have built Ram Mandir in this country. Article 370 of Jammu and Kashmir is done away with. We should convert the Muslims of Pakistan to Hinduism. We have to prioritise Ghar wapsi. Pakistan is included in the idea of Akhanda Bharath. Mutts and temples should take leadership in this regard,” said Surya, who has been in controversies previously for his comments against religious minorities in India. He went on to say that temples and mutts should have “yearly targets” of people that they re-convert to Hinduism.
He further went on to say that this "re-conversion to Hinduism" must happen on Tipu Jayanti, and that ‘ghar wapsi’ is the “responsibility of Hindus.”
Tejasvi Surya’s speech at the Udupi mutt comes days after a ‘conclave’ of Hindutva leaders in Uttarakhand’s Haridwar, where they were seen making provocative speeches, calling Hindus to take up arms against Muslims. The event was attended by several leaders of Hindutva outfits, as well as BJP leader Ashwini Upadhyay, who was earlier arrested in connection with communal slogans raised in Delhi’s Jantar Mantar earlier this year. The Uttarakhand police have filed an FIR against some of the attendees of the conclave, including Jitender Singh Tyagi who changed his name from Waseem Rizvi after converting to Hinduism earlier this month.