An official of the Indian bishops’ conference has questioned a Hindu leader’s claim that former Indian president Pranab Mukherjee supported converting tribal Christians to Hinduism to save them from becoming anti-nationals. The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India called the claim “fabricated” on Jan. 17, two days after the media published the statements of Mohan Bhagwat, the head of the powerful Hindu group Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). In a statement, the bishops’ conference questioned the motive behind publishing a “fabricated personal conversation being attributed to a former president of India.” Bhagwat told a public function in central Indian Indore city on Jan. 13 that Mukherjee supported the campaign to convert Christians during a private conversation with him in 2017. Mukherjee died in 2020.
The bishops’ statement questioned the media ethics of “posthumous publication” of statements attributed to a pre-sident by “an organization with questionable credibility.” It also questioned why Bhagwat “did not speak” about this when Mukherjee was alive. “It is unfortunate” that RSS, which was banned thrice and often associated with violence in India “as seen over the past several decades, is allowed with impunity to call the non-violent, peace-loving and service-oriented Christian community as anti-nationals,” said the statement issued by the bishops’ public relations officer Father Robinson Rodrigues. The RSS is seen as the umbrella organization of all Hindu groups working to make India a nation of Hindu hegemony.
Hindu group Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP or World Hindu Council) spearheads a campaign called Ghar Wapsi (homecoming) in northern India to convert Christians to Hinduism, claiming Hinduism is the “home” religion of all Indians.