Amidst high drama, 10 daily wage labourers from the outskirts of the city were reconverted from Christianity into Hinduism at Sankara Mutt in West Mambalam on Friday morning. Organised by the Hindu Makkal Katchi, a fringe Hindutva group, the reconversion ceremony took about an hour on the mutt premises where the 10 converts, five men and five women, performed rituals and offered prayers.
As there was police pressure, the converts were “hidden” in a house in West Mambalam and brought to the mutt a couple of hours behind the schedule.
The converts were mostly daily wage labourers from Minjur in Thiruvallur district. All of them had more or less similar stories to narrate. Asked why they “reverted” to Hinduism, Deivanayagi, a daily wage labourer, said she had adopted Christianity only because her landlord would offer her family a house on rent. After the news broke out that 108 non-Hindus would reconvert to Hinduism, the police took positions outside Sankara Mutt around 8 a.m. itself when the ceremony was scheduled initially.
Rama Ravikumar, State secretary of Hindu Makkal Katchi, walked the group of 10 Christians into the Mutt, two hours late.
A trustee of Sankara Mutt, who was present at the venue, denied the suggestion that the mutt was supporting a political event.
Meanwhile, police were posted at Sri Parthasarathy Temple in Triplicane where the converts were scheduled to worship, but were asked to go home from the Mutt to Minjur. Only Mr. Ravikumar and a few others offered worship outside the temple.
The police denied them permission to even step into the temple premises. “However, the reconversions will continue,” he said.
House arrest Police placed Arjun Sampath, president, Hindu Makkal Katchi, under house arrest in Anna Nagar in the morning to prevent him from participating in the ceremony. He was released at night.
(Additional reporting by Petlee Peter)