Dharam Jagaran Samiti to go ahead with homecoming programming on December 25

Aligarh: Notwithstanding the warning by the district administration, the Dharam Jagaran Samiti -- a western UP-based Hindutva group, has said it will go ahead with its reconversion programme on December 25.

"This is not conversion programme but a ceremony to welcome those who had left the Hindu fold in the past and are ready to return because of dissatisfaction which they experienced after conversion."

"We are ready to fight a legal battle if the district administration tries to prevent our ceremony," Organisation Secretary of the Samiti, Vidyaram Pandey said.

The Aligarh district administration has denied receiving any application from Samiti for permission to organise the programme.

Meanwhile, BJP has now adopted a cautious approach on this impending 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 told reporters.

On the other hand, organisations of minority community and leaders have voiced their concern over the possibility of communal strife as a fall out of the proposed Christmas Day reconversion ceremony.

The AMU Students' Union, in a letter today to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, pointed out that forced conversions by some Hindu organisations in Uttar Pradesh under the garb of "homecoming ceremony" were a dangerous signal for the entire country.

"This matter has nothing to do with Hinduism, as Hinduism never preaches religious exploitation. This is entirely the work of some extremist Hindu organisations who are indulging in such activities not because of an interest in their religion but for purely polarising society for political gains," the letter said.