Police on alert to bust ‘re-conversion’ event in Aligarh

Reports quoting Bajrang Dal and Vishwa Hindu Parishad sources say a “shuddhi” (re-conversion) ceremony has been planned in Aligarh for December 25.

A senior police officer said though the Aligarh programme had not been confirmed, the district police authorities had been alerted. Director-General of Police, Uttar Pradesh, A.L. Banerjee directed the Superintendents of Police to keep a close watch on any such activities.

The Agra Police on Tuesday evening lodged an FIR against one Kishori Lal Valmiki, who was allegedly involved in the conversion exercise in Agra on December 8, on the basis of a complaint by one Ismail, a resident of the Sadar Bazar area. Inspector-General, Law and Order, A. Satish Ganesh said the complainant had alleged that for the past 20 days, Valmiki had been luring them with promises of easy procurement of BPL and Aadhaar cards if they converted to Hinduism. Asked about Valmiki’s background, Mr. Ganesh said investigations were under way and details had been sought from the Agra district authorities.

In the Rajya Sabha, Congress leader Satyavrat Chaturvedi questioned the silence of the government even as party colleague Digvijaya Singh said conversion by inducement was a crime.

The Congress was of the view that conversion and other communal incidents were a bid by the Sangh Parivar to divert the attention from the alleged failures of the Narendra Modi government.