| The
picture is becoming clearer as the Dharm Jagaran Yatra -- which began from Goa today and
will reach Delhi two days prior to the Pope's visit starting November 5 -- gets under way.
Its slogan is 'Quit India', which is aimed at the foreign missionaries. Its programme is
reconversion of the Catholics to Hinduism. The Sanskruti Raksha Manch, under whose banner the Sangh Parivar is
conducting the campaign against alleged Christian conversions, held a small function at
Porne Tirth (an ancient place of pilgrimage) in Diwar, an island across Old Goa, by way of
inaugurating the two week yatra.
Recalling that the Dwarkeshwar temple here was
the equivalent of Jerusalem for the Hindus of Goa, Bal Apte of the Manch felt that all
such places which were destroyed by the Jesuits and the Portuguese rulers four centuries
ago should be rebuilt once again.
The yatra however is only the first step to
warn the foreign missionaries to wind up their activities in India, failing which the next
step will be to physically drive them out. The third step, as envisaged by the Manch,
would be to ''rehabilitate'' those who were forcibly converted to Christianity.
Mukundraj Maharaj Madgavkar of Siolim, who
presided over the launching ceremony, also spoke of the reconversion to Hinduism of all
Goan Catholics who were forcibly converted 500 years ago.
The Manch had initially projected a picture of
the yatra merely seeking an apology from the Pope for the Portuguese Inquisition in Goa
and a commitment regarding alleged forcible conversions in tribal areas elsewhere in the
country.
But the focus now is about rebuilding all the
Hindu temples destroyed by the Portuguese rulers. The Sangh Parivar however also expresses
''sympathies'' for the Goan Catholics, claiming that they were kept in the dark by the
Church regarding the atrocities on non-Christians during the Inquisition. |
