Muslims converting to Hinduism in India was a fraud: local residents

Rasa - Earlier this week, more than 50 impoverished Muslim families in a slum in the northern Indian city of Agra attended a simple but controversial ceremony at which they were asked by a Hindu priest to chant and throw offerings into the holy fire in front of some Hindu idols.

News ID: 1823

Date: 15 December 2014 - 01:05

RNA - In this secular but predominantly Hindu nation of more than 1.2 billion people, religious conversions have always been a touchy subject.

Earlier this week, more than 50 impoverished Muslim families in a slum in the northern Indian city of Agra attended a simple but controversial ceremony at which they were asked by a Hindu priest to chant and throw offerings into the holy fire in front of some Hindu idols.

The priest then welcomed the Muslims into the Hindu fold.

Some Muslims in the neighborhood of trash collectors told local reporters that it was all a fraud. They said that a Hindu activist had assured them that by attending the ceremony, they will get the government's coveted "below-poverty-line" identity card and access to state welfare assistance in health and education.

Bajrang Dal, the organizers of the ceremony and a radical Hindu group associated with Prime Minister's Narendra Modi's party, said that the ceremony was held in the open and the religious conversion was voluntary.

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