Christmas Day conversion: Hindu outfit calls off ceremony

Aligarh, Dec 16: Ending days of stand-off, Dharam Jagaran Samiti, a western UP-based Hindutva group, today called off its controversial conversion programme scheduled for December 25.

Satya Prakash Nauman, district president of the outfit, today said over phone,"The proposed 'ghar wapsi'(conversion ceremony) planned for December 25 has been called off".

However, he did not elaborate the reason behind the outfit's U-turn. A controversy had erupted after the outfits announcement that it will conduct a mass conversion ceremony at a local college here on December 25--Christmas. Prohibitory orders under Section 144 of CrPC were clamped in the city two days ago.

BJP MP Yogi Adityanath had also announced his plans to attend the proposed ceremony, saying there was nothing wrong if people re-convert to Hinduism if they are doing it willingly. However, BJP had adopted a cautious approach on the potential face-off between the district authorities and the other saffron organisations.

"We are not organising this ceremony but if the organisers including the Bajrang Dal seek our help on this score, we will certainly do whatever we can to help them," BJP's district president Devraj Singh had told reporters.

PTI