Sunday, December 21, 2025
ADVT 
India

Poor Muslims In Agra Who Converted Will Be Given Ration Cards: Bajrang Dal

IANS, 09 Dec, 2014 12:40 PM
    A Bajrang Dal leader said Tuesday that all the 300 poor Muslims who he said had embraced Hinduism here will be given ration cards they badly lacked.
     
    Amid claims by one of the 300 that they were forced to give up Islam, Bajrang Dal's Ajju Chauhan said everyone in the group would be now taught Hindu rituals.
     
    The Bajrang Dal organised the conversion ceremony Monday.
     
    Chauhan, the group's co-convener, said Tuesday that all those who converted to Hinduism would be "Sanskritised". They would be registered as voters and would get ration cards. 
     
    He said the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS), to which the Bajrang Dal is allied, had been working "hard for three months to persuade them to convert to Hinduism". 
     
    The 300 members of some 60 Muslim families who reportedly embraced Hinduism Monday evening live in a slum on the outskirts of the Taj city -- and are miserably poor.
     
    Most of them had lived near Madhu Nagar on Gwalior Road for 17 long years after migrating either from West Bengal or Bangladesh. 
     
    Agra's Muslim leaders mostly declined to comment on the episode.
     
    But one Muslim scholar who did not want to be quoted by name alleged that those who converted were not Muslims.
     
    "It is true that they are all from outside Agra, perhaps from Bangladesh, and had been living here illegally as they have no voter, Adhaar or ration cards," he said.
     
    Munira, one of the 300, alleged they were lured to the event on the promise of giving them a plot of land and ration cards.
     
    "We were taken to a place where a fire ceremony was on," Munira told ABP news channel. "We were made to sit there. We became panicky. We were told to pray to Hindu gods. We did whatever they told us...
     
    "But now we are again reading the Holy Quran and our family members offered namaz today," he added.
     
    Agra's Senior Superintendent of Police Shalabh Mathur said no complaint had been registered regarding the event. "We will take action if there is a complaint."
     
    A Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader, Premendra Jain, wondered if Bangladeshis could be allowed to live in India if they give up Islam.
     
    "We have been demanding the expulsion of all Bangladeshis living illegally in India," Jain told IANS. 
     
    "Now these people have been converted to Hinduism. Does it mean all those staying in India illegally will be allowed to stay here if they convert?"

    MORE India ARTICLES

    Kejriwal's audio accusing BJP of horse-trading released

    Kejriwal's audio accusing BJP of horse-trading released
    The AAP Tuesday released a recorded audio message of party chief Arvind Kejriwal accusing the BJP of indulging in horse-trading to form the government in Delhi.

    Kejriwal's audio accusing BJP of horse-trading released

    Cornered government condemns Vaidik-Hafiz meet, seeks report

    Cornered government condemns Vaidik-Hafiz meet, seeks report
    Facing opposition heat, a cornered government Tuesday denounced yoga guru Ramdev aide Ved Pratap Vaidik's meeting with Pakistani terrorist Hafiz Saeed and sought a report from the Indian High Commission in Islamabad.

    Cornered government condemns Vaidik-Hafiz meet, seeks report

    Haryana SGPC row: Akalis term it assault on Khalsa Panth

    Haryana SGPC row: Akalis term it assault on Khalsa Panth
    Terming it a "sinister move of the Congress government in Haryana to dilute, divide and break up the supreme, sacred and historic" SGPC, Punjab's ruling Shiromani Akali Dal Tuesday said the move to set up a parallel body was a "direct assault on the Khalsa Panth (Sikh religion), its history, traditions and spiritual values".

    Haryana SGPC row: Akalis term it assault on Khalsa Panth

    Vaidik wanted to 'analyse' Saeed's mind, denies political link

    Vaidik wanted to 'analyse' Saeed's mind, denies political link
    Journalist Ved Pratap Vaidik, whose meeting with 2008 Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed in Lahore has kicked up a row, Monday defended himself by saying he only wanted to analyse the Pakistani terror group leader's mind to "perceive his motivation about India".

    Vaidik wanted to 'analyse' Saeed's mind, denies political link

    Girls below 18 victims in most Delhi rapes

    Girls below 18 victims in most Delhi rapes
    Girls below 18 years of age have been the victims in most of the rape cases in the national capital and the majority of such cases have happened in residences or involved friends and acquaintances, says a study by Delhi Police.

    Girls below 18 victims in most Delhi rapes

    No bed for ailing African woman at AIIMS

    No bed for ailing African woman at AIIMS
    Martha Susan Kabura (51) has come all the way from Kenya to India's premiere institute, AIIMS, hoping for a cure for her fatal ailment. But for the past week, she has been camping outside the hospital - in the sweltering

    No bed for ailing African woman at AIIMS