"If Hindus need to be in majority in India and to save our religion, we have to engage in

many more Ghar Wapsi drives to bring crores of others into our religion," said Togadia.!

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Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader Pravin Togadia today claimed that his organisation
had re-converted more than five lakh Christians and 2.5 lakh Muslims to Hinduism in the
last ten years. Speaking at a function here today, Togadia also called for a mass drive to
continue this "Ghar Wapsi" to save the Hinduism in India.!
"Within last ten years, we did Ghar Wapsi of more than five lakh Christians and 2.5 lakh
Muslims. Our rate of Ghar Wapsi used to be around 15,000 each year. But last year, we
have crossed the mark of 40,000, which is excluding the figures of RSS," said Togadia, the
international working president of VHP. "If Hindus need to be in majority in India and to
save our religion, we have to engage in many more Ghar Wapsi drives to bring crores of
others into our religion," said Togadia, who was here to take part in VHP's fund raising
event. During his brief interaction with media afterwards, the right-wing leader also
demanded that all the Hindus of Pakistan should be given Indian citizenship.!

The VHP belongs to the Sangh Parivar, an umbrella of Hindu nationalist organisations led
by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).!

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Speaking in Agra on Thursday, a Dharm Jagran Samiti (DJS) functionary said Muslims and
Christians will have to convert to Hinduism if they want to stay in this country.!
"Our target is to make India a Hindu Rashtra by 2021. The Muslims and Christians don't
have any right to stay here. So they would either be converted to Hinduism or forced to run
away from here," Uttar Pradesh DJS head Rajeshwar Singh said. He was reacting to the
arrest of Nand Kishore Valmiki, a DJS activist. Valmiki was arrested on Tuesday for his
alleged involvement in forcefully converting over 100 Muslims to Hinduism in Agra.!

It costs Rs 5 lakh to convert a Muslim into a Hindu and Rs 2 lakh to convert a Christian
into a Hindu, if one is to go by the pamphlet being distributed by RSS offshoot Dharam
Jagran Samiti (DJS). The body has put down an annual target of two lakh conversions (1
lakh Muslims, 1 lakh Christians) and has set 25 December as the date for a major
conversion ceremony.!
The pamphlets, carrying the letterhead of DJS, are now being found in many houses in
Aligarh. It calls Christians and Muslims a "samasya" (problem) in India and proposes a
fund for their grand "ghar vapsi".!

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The Joint Action Committee for Social Justice (JAC) of the UoH described Ms Iranis
statement in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday as manipulative. The SC/ST Teachers and
the JAC had earlier too taken an umbrage at the ministers attempt to portray that the
action was triggered by the recommendation of a Dalit professor.!
Another weak link in her scorching allocution on the floor of the House was the assertion
that no doctor was allowed to see Rohiths body for several hours (till 6.30 am the next
morning, while the body was found hanging around 7.20 pm the previous day). However,
with the Chief Medical Officer of the University of Hyderabad Rajashree debunking the
statement, the Minister had an egg on her face.!
In a report published in Indian Express, Dr Rajashree was quoted as recalling the incidents
on January 17, 2016: I was informed by someone (about the suicide) and I rushed to
Room 207 at the NRS Hostel, with the staff nurse and ambulance driver. By that time,
Rohiths body had been brought down and placed on a cot.!
The document she had submitted to M Ramana Kumar, investigating officer and the
Assistant Commissioner of Police of Madhapur under Cyberabad Police Commissionerate,
also had a clear mention of Rohiths body: Body still, cold, tongue protruding from mouth.
Froth marks seen around lips. Pupils are dilated, fixed. Pulse not palpable, no heart
sounds. No breath sound noted. Body cold, still, rigor mortis stage. Declared dead
approximately at 7:40 pm. Informed to VC, Dean of Students Welfare, Registrar, reported
to police. (sic).!
What the HRD Minister had flashed as a police report submitted to the High Court in Lok
Sabha was just a communication sent by the Assistant Commissioner of Police to the
Government Pleader. The police are confirming that they have not submitted any report to
the High Court in this regard.!
The police have not mentioned the observations made by Dr Rajashree as she is the
University CMO and that she is not an independent or police/public surgeon. It is an act of
wilful omission.!
The police have apparently concealed the fact that a doctor had rushed to the scene within
seven minutes of the receipt of information, for the inquest had to be conducted by a
competent authority. In fact, a video telecast by TV news channels had shown Dr
Rajashree and Gachibowli Inspector Ramesh in the footage near the body of Rohith
Vemula on that fateful night.!
How did the minister, without caring for fact-checking, make such a fiery speech packing
punches on the Opposition and those crying hoarse at the suicide of Rohith? She called it
a childs death and that she was enraged as a childs death is being used as a political
weapon.!
Madam, it is not a natural or an accidental death. It is a suicide. A scholar, who wanted to
become a science writer like Carl Sagan, had left a bitter suicide note before taking the
extreme step. It cannot be slighted.!
Another crucial point,which could embarrass the government,Smriti Irani conveniently had
avoided was how Prof Appa Rao Podile was chosen for the coveted position of the ViceChancellor of UoH. Reports suggested that he had surpassed 35 others above him in the
list for the top job, thanks to his powerful political connections.!
Rohiths mother Radhika chose to voice her indignation about all this in Delhi where she
talked about how the V-C just ignored her and didnt even bother to meet her when her son
died. Rohiths friends said at the same press conference that It is these ministers and the
BJP whose political interference and the casteist attitude of the VC and other complicit
administrators that led to the politicisation and death of Rohith.!
Though MsIrani had provided statistics that 16 VCs out of the 20 were appointed by the
Congress-led UPA, she did not talk about the political leanings of Prof Appa Rao that were
highlighted during the peak of the controversy that ensued Rohiths suicide. She might not

have found it as convenient as quoting a Roman philosopher, who, for reasons best known
to her, could pip Chanakya, at least for once.!
After a long hiatus after the conclusion of a saga that lasted for little over eight years
between 2000 and 2008 through 1,833 episodes of Indias favourite TV soap on Star Plus,
Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhee Bahu Thi, its lead actress Smriti Irani, in her capacity as the HRD
Minister, is now at the centre of another multi-episode real life challenge.!
When she had thundered, My name is Smriti Irani. I challenge you to identify my caste,
what crossed my mind is the famous dialogue of Aamir Khan in his latest flick PK: Kahaan
hai thappa, dikhao? But there may be nothing much to debate as to who had triggered
this kind of discrimination on the basis of such religious identity.!