RSS general secretary Suresh ‘Bhaiyyaji’ Joshi on Feb. 9 accused the Church of exploiting and converting people to Christianity by taking advantage of their “ignorance and poverty.”

Stating that he had no objection if someone embraces Christianity on his own, Joshi said that forcible religious conversion of people should be considered a criminal offence.

The RSS leader was speaking during a question-answer session as part of his lecture session ‘Vishwaguru Bharat’ in Panaji. “If someone on his own understands Christianity and accepts it, then well and good. But you should not take advantage of someone’s ignorance or poverty by way of exploiting and converting them,” Joshi said. “This is not right. We oppose it. We have no reason to oppose someone accepting Christianity on his accord,” he said. He said that several NGOs working in the fields of water conservation and forest protection are soon followed by the Church.