Holy men and seers gathered at an annual Hindu festival demand, India be declared a Hindu nation, and want death penalty for conversions.

(FIACONA NEWS SERVICE) Jan 31, 2022, New Delhi: Thousands of Hindu holy men who are attending the annual 47-day religious festival called Magh Mela have demanded that the Modi government make way for declaring India officially a Hindu nation-state by removing the word “secular” from the preamble to the Constitution of India.

They also have resolved that the Modi government in Delhi must pass legislation that makes religious conversion of any Hindu to another faith is an act of treason, a crime deserving capital punishment reports Times of India. The conference is held during the 47 day festival on the banks of the Ganges river.

The demand of the holy men, for whom Mr. Modi and his government have a great deal of respect, and whose support they need to stay in power, comes at a time when attacks against Christians are becoming a normal occurrence every day across India. The Hindu nationalists of the BJP party accuse the Christian families and pastors of converting the local people even if they hold a private prayer meeting at a home or at a church. Such prayer meetings are branded as conversion attempts and are subject to attacks and violence.

The supporters of Mr. Modi’s party claim that the Christian missionaries are using their money power to convert poor Hindus across India.

In response to the reported demands of the Hindu seers, the Federation of Indian American Christian Organizations (FIACONA) said, that America must wake up and realize that they are facing a grave situation in India. The President of FIACONA said, that ignoring these serious developments will not only end tragically for Indians but would also seriously impact American interest in Asia. Instability caused by religious tension in India is not going to be good for the international community while it would devastate the Indian church.

America has always failed to prevent a human tragedy though American leaders always talked highly of American leadership and responsibilities in the world. In Germany, America failed to act in time to prevent a mass killing of the Jews saying it was a European problem for a long time until it was too late.

In China, America failed to do the right thing even after the Tiananmen Square massacre saying that if America was harsh on China for its actions, it could retaliate impacting the pocketbooks of every American consumer. Some even argued that empowering middle-class china would help liberalize the communist country. Continued support to China for almost half a century against all warning signs and cautions makes America’s support for Yughurs now seems almost hypocritical.

The same arguments in India will not help India become a long-term ally and a beacon of democracy in Asia. On the contrary, all warning signs in India indicate that she is fast becoming a radical country in the hands of Hindu nationalists. Yet Washington seems oblivious to the writing on the wall and continues to endorse and engage with a religious extremist party.

The Chairman of the Board said America may only see the damage caused after it actually happens. Until then, paid lobbyists for the Hindu nationalist government in Washington will continue to mask India’s descent to enrich themselves.

According to the newspaper, the seers who are gathered at the festival have taken an oath that they will reconvert as many Christians as possible back to Hinduism. They call it the ‘home-coming’ of the Hindus who converted to ‘foreign religions’

The chief guest of the festival, Sumeru Peethadheeshwar Jagadguru Swami Narendranand Saraswati said, “if the government does not declare India as a Hindu nation, all Hindus should start writing and terming the country a Hindu nation”. He said, by doing so they could compel the government to declare India as a Hindu nation.

Another speaker Swami Lalitananda said that every child in India is a Hindu by birth. He claimed that some of them changed their rituals and converted to foreign religions because of the cunningness of missionaries.