Author:
Publication: Organiser
Date: July 9, 2006
URL: http://www.organiser.org/dynamic/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=138&page=11
Shri Madan Dilawar is among those BJP leaders,
who are proud of their association with Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
He has no qualms in admitting that, as a minister, he is instilling good values
into the people, which he has learnt as a swayamsevak. At times, some of his
decisions courted controversies. It was he who had introduced the Bhojan Mantra
in the hotels, run by the Special Welfare Department. Again, it was he who
had raised the issue of EMI bringing the innocent children to Kota with a
nefarious purpose for converting them to Christianity. This is his fourth
uninterrupted term as MLA. He was Minister in the previous BJP government,
headed by Bhairon Singh Shekhawat. Given below are excerpts from his interview
with Lokpal Sethi.
Q.: How do you feel when Rajasthan High Court
has vindicated the stand of Cooperative Department for cancelling the registration
of five institutions run by EMI?
A.: From the very beginning, I am repeatedly saying that there is no truth
in the claim of these missionary organisations, active in the state, that
their activities were confined only to the field of education and welfare
of the poor and that they do not indulge in conversion activities. But the
truth is that the main objective of these missionary organisations is to convert
the innocent people to Christianity and they camouflage their activities under
the garb of running educational and other such institutions.
Q.: But under the Constitution, every citizen
of the country has the right to practice any religion of his/her choice?
A.: Yes, under the Constitution there is religious freedom to all the citizens.
But the Constitution also provides that if someone tries to convert any citizen
by use of force, bribe or allurement, then it is illegal. That was the precise
reason for the State Assembly to pass the legislation aimed at checking the
illegal conversion activities. If the provisions of the legislation are enforced
strictly, it would definitely stop the illegal conversion.
Q.: There are allegations, levelled by some
Hindu organisations, that some missionary organisations receive funds from
abroad to carry out conversion activities?
A.: These kinds of allegations are being made frequently and are carried by
the media. The truth is that some missionary organisations were getting funds
from the western countries on the pretext that they were propagating education
among the illiterate and the poor and were carrying out welfare activities.
But, the funds were being misused for conversion purpose. That is the reason
that during the past few decades the number of Christians in the north-eastern
states have gone up by many folds.
Q.: About a year back, the activists of Bajrang
Dal lodged a complaint with police that EMI had brought a large number of
teenagers from other states to convert them to Christianity?
A.: Yes, the case was registered. The police are still investigating the case.
According to my information, the police have got enough evidence to prove
this case.
