Distinction in travel journalism
Is independent travel journalism important to you?
Click here to keep it independent

19 Dec, 2014

Christian enclave in India fears violence as Hindus press for conversions – The Washington Post

ALIGARH, India — The trouble started a few months ago, when Hindu nationalists swept into a small village where several families had converted to Christianity more than a decade earlier. They held a fire purification ceremony with the villagers, tore a cross off the local church and put up a poster of the god Shiva. The space was now a temple, they declared.

Then right-wing Hindu groups announced a Christmas Day ceremony where they planned to welcome hundreds of Christians and Muslims into Hinduism. A fundraising flier solicited donations for volunteers to undergo conversion — about $3,200 for each Christian and about $8,000 for each Muslim.

After a nationwide furor, organizers on Tuesday postponed the ceremony. But one of them, Rajeshwar Singh Solanki, said in an interview Thursday that his group will demonstrate against any church baptisms performed on the holiday. He said his group’s ultimate aim is to ensure that Islam and Christianity “cease to exist” in India.

Read the rest: Christian enclave in India fears violence as Hindus press for conversions – The Washington Post.