ALIGARH:
In what has come as a huge relief for both the UP government and the
district administration in Aligarh, the Dharam Jagran Samiti, an RSS
affiliate, has called off the December 25 "mass conversion" event it had planned in a city college.
Late on Tuesday night, Aligarh SSP J Ravinder Goud confirmed to TOI that the controversial "ghar wapsi' (homecoming) programme had been cancelled. "I received a call from the organizers of the Christmas day event saying that they are calling off the scheduled event," he said.
Asked about the imposition of Section 144 (that bars assembly of more than four persons at one place) in Aligarh district, Goud said, "We have just received the call and only by tomorrow will the administration be able to decide on the next course of action."
Coming on the heels of the Agra conversion controversy of December 8, in which another right wing group had "brought back into the Hindu fold" about 200 Muslims, mostly slum dwellers, the Dharam Jagran Samiti had not only announced the December 25 conversion of "more than 6,000 Christians and Muslims", but also sought donations for it.
Pamphlets had been distributed informing sympathizers about the event, forcing the UP government to impose Section 144 and put in place mechanisms to thwart what would have been a very embarassing development for the Samajwadi Party government in Lucknow.
The conversion announcement had also shaken Delhi, with Parliament disrupted by Opposition members almost every day after TOI first reported about the Samiti's letter asking for donations for the planned conversions, which it said was a costly affair. The letter had even spelt out the expenses incurred per conversion -- Rs 5 lakh for a Muslim to be turned into Hindu, and Rs 2 lakh for a Christian.
The announcement by Dharam Jagran Samiti to not go ahead with the Christmas day event came even as the UP police earlier in the day nabbed the main accused in the Agra conversion case, Nand Kishore Balmiki. Multiple teams had fanned out to track him down after he went underground soon after the conversion issue led to massive protests both in Parliament and by secular groups across the country. He was hunted down after a chase that lasted 7 days.
Late on Tuesday night, Aligarh SSP J Ravinder Goud confirmed to TOI that the controversial "ghar wapsi' (homecoming) programme had been cancelled. "I received a call from the organizers of the Christmas day event saying that they are calling off the scheduled event," he said.
Asked about the imposition of Section 144 (that bars assembly of more than four persons at one place) in Aligarh district, Goud said, "We have just received the call and only by tomorrow will the administration be able to decide on the next course of action."
Coming on the heels of the Agra conversion controversy of December 8, in which another right wing group had "brought back into the Hindu fold" about 200 Muslims, mostly slum dwellers, the Dharam Jagran Samiti had not only announced the December 25 conversion of "more than 6,000 Christians and Muslims", but also sought donations for it.
Pamphlets had been distributed informing sympathizers about the event, forcing the UP government to impose Section 144 and put in place mechanisms to thwart what would have been a very embarassing development for the Samajwadi Party government in Lucknow.
The conversion announcement had also shaken Delhi, with Parliament disrupted by Opposition members almost every day after TOI first reported about the Samiti's letter asking for donations for the planned conversions, which it said was a costly affair. The letter had even spelt out the expenses incurred per conversion -- Rs 5 lakh for a Muslim to be turned into Hindu, and Rs 2 lakh for a Christian.
The announcement by Dharam Jagran Samiti to not go ahead with the Christmas day event came even as the UP police earlier in the day nabbed the main accused in the Agra conversion case, Nand Kishore Balmiki. Multiple teams had fanned out to track him down after he went underground soon after the conversion issue led to massive protests both in Parliament and by secular groups across the country. He was hunted down after a chase that lasted 7 days.
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