An enquiry into Chhattisgarh’s 152 voluntary organisations involved in religious conversion under the guise of education and health

Vishnu Dev Sai Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh (right)

Raipur, Chhattisgarh – Vishnu Dev Sai Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh has ordered an enquiry of those voluntary organisations which under the guise of education and health are promoting Christianity and are involved in the incidents of conversion in the state. Chhattisgarh has 153 voluntary organisations that have registered under ‘Foreign Exchange Regulation Act (FERA) such that they can get foreign donations. Organisations which have been created for voluntary work in the field of Health, Education and other social work, are found to be involved in suspicious activity. Chief Minister had given a warning about this. He said that voluntary organisation promoting religious conversion is not just unethical; it is also against the main essence of the constitution.

• These voluntary organisations get funds from foreign countries under the excuse that they will work in the field of health and work and they use that money for promoting religious conversion. These organisations make use of the illiteracy, poverty and heath issues and force people to convert to Christianity.

• Most of these organisations choose tribal areas as their workplace.

• 9 out of the 19 registered organisations in Bastar and 15 out of 18 in Jashpur are run by Christian missionaries. The number of religious conversions in these areas is the most. More than 35% of the tribals in Jashpur are Christians.

• In the past 11 months the state has registered 13 crimes about conversions. The state’s BJP government is preparing to bring in strict laws against religious conversion.

Editorial Perspective

It would be appropriate to de-recognise the organisations which obtain funds for social work and then use it for promoting Christianity and in that way create friction in society and imprison those involved in these activities.