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A Conversion Debate
                By Walter Fernandes
    The controversy on conversions continues. The just concluded visit by the pope to India had provoked demands of an apology for forced conversions in Goa and for the destruction of temples. That raises questions about the very meaning of history. At what time of history does on stop? Secondly, do forced conversions continue today?.

    To begin with on cannot deny that there have been forced conversions in the past. Almost every religion has restored to it. Christians have done it, so have Hindus and Muslims.I grew up next to one of the only two temples in India which have Brahma as the deity. Normally His image is not shown. So my brother did some research n that temple and came to the conclusion that it was actually an image of Buddha turned into Brahma. That temple is not an exception. History tells us how Buddhism and Jainism were suppressed in India by Hindu kings between Sixth and Ninth Centuries. Hundreds of Buddhist temples were turned into Hindu temples. That has to be judged according to the thinking of those times. We cannot apply 10th Century norms to the past.The same holds good for Christians and others. Places of worship have been destroyed and coercion used for conversion. But it is equally true that the State used laws when the social and political climate was favorable. In Goa, for example there were discriminatory laws for five years Ð1558-1563. That was nearly half a decade after the Portuguese conquered the territory, they did not dare make such laws before that. By that time the Portuguese had won the war of Diu in 1542 and the Indian ruling class knew that they had come to stay. They were finding ways of co-operating with them. Such co-operation was extended also by many Hindus. Sardar Pannikkar tells us how the Vijayanagar Emperor welcomed the Portuguese as an ally against the Mugals. Rowena Robinson speaks of the Goan Brahmins welcoming them as allies against the local Muslim rulers. Thus coercion came at a time when the local dominant classes were ready to accept them. That does not justify coercion. But one has to situate these events within a Historical perspective. Such coercion has been used by Hindus too. But one cannot demand an apology from the Sankaracharyas for what was done several centuries ago in the name of their religion.

    The question is whether forced conversions continue today, New reports from the Dangs in Gujarat mention that the landlords do not give jobs to tribal Christians and do not let them draw water from village well. To survive they to declare themselves Hindu. That probably be considered forced conversion. Allegations have been made about Christian's missionaries using allurements to convert the poor. But they have not been substantiated. To the best of my knowledge, no case has been framed on this count even in Madhya Pradesh and Orissa where a law is in force on this issue for more than there decades That conversions are a bogey is evident also from the census data.The proportion of Christians has been falling with every census. It has come down from 2.8 percent in 1951 to 2.3 percent in 1991. High literacy of Christian women, good healthcare and urbanization explain their smaller families. The Sanskrit Raksha Manch keeps repeating that a book from an American Christian fundamentalist organization states that the number Christians may be 4 per cent because only family heads are counted. This statement would not deserve much comment but for the fact that it is repeated unceasingly. The data comes form the census. Are we expected to believe that the only in the case of Christians the census bureau counts family heads alone and in the case of the rest all the members are counted? Conversions do exist in some regions, particularly in the north  east. Most of them are from them are from one Christian denomination to another. Also, many Born Again Christian fundamentalist groups try to convert people. They even claim to have founded lakhs of churches in India. The parivar outfits publicize these statements as proof of the allegation of mass conversions. A closer scrutiny reveals that by planting a church, these groups mean that they have held prayer meetings in so many families. Most such families have not changed their religion. These fundamentalist groups have certainly got many adherents, most of them form other Christian denominations. They claim to have six millions followers in India. Serious estimates put their number at about two millions.
 
Conversions continue in other forms too. I work in the tribal areas. A large number of them are being Hinduized by the groups that accuse Christians of forced conversions. But Hinduization is not called for conversion. It is presented as cultural change though most anthropologists are clear that the tribals have their own religion and are not Hindus. In fact even the census speaks of them as Hindus. Has their consent been got to present them as adherents of a religion they do not belong to? That has happened in the past too. For example, Lord Jagannath was a god of the Saora tribe. He has been turned into a Hindu God. Even to day tribal priests are invited on the rath yatra day. But fifty-two years after independence, Dalits are not allowed entry in to this seat of one to the eight Shankaracharyas. One is yet to see any Sangh Parivar body demanding an apology for it.Instead of raking up the past, one has to remedy today's situation. Dalits continue to be discriminated against. The tribals are deprived of their livelihood. Women are not given the place they deserve as human beings. That happens, irrespective of their religion. History tells us that Dalits became Christians in search of freedom from caste. But they continue to be discriminated against among Christians. The State that calls itself secular, discriminates against them in the name of religion and denies them scheduled caste privileges.This situation cannot be forgotten by demanding an apology for what happened centuries ago and through the bogey of conversions. The real problem is education and health care of the poor. Those with a vested interest in the poverty of the Dallits and tribals use the Hindutva facade to continue to keep the in bondage. Poverty being their vested interest, any improvement in the lives of the victims of the injustice they perpetrate is a threat to them. So those imparting them education or health care are missionaries resorting to forced conversions. They take that for granted because they are poor, they do not know what is good for them or to take decisions for themselves. If they change their religion, it has to be through incentives or force. They forget that Dalits among them lose their scheduled caste privileges after change of religion.
  
The time has come to acknowledge that a section of our citizens is treated like non- humans. Instead of demanding an apology for the past, let all of us come together to apologize to the Dalits, tribals and women for what we are continuing to do to them. Let us renew our commitment to the right of every citizen to a life with dignity.The writer is Senior Fellow, Indian Social Institute, New Delhi.

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