People who embraced Hinduism constituted 47 per cent of religious conversions in Kerala during 2020
Clarion India
NEW DELHI — As the electioneering started for the assembly elections in Kerala, Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) in its manifesto promised to bring a law to stop the forceful religious conversion and ‘love jihad’ in Kerala to woo Hindu and Christian voters on the lines of Uttar Pradesh government.
But, the official data from the government gazette tell a different story. The Indian Express has published official figures for the year 2020 which says the biggest gainer – in terms of new converts – was Hinduism in Kerala. Hence, there is as such no use of such a law as Hinduism has no threat in the state.
People who embraced Hinduism constituted 47 per cent of religious conversions in Kerala during the one-year period under reference, reports the newspaper.
Of the total 506 people who registered their change of religion with the government, 241 were those who converted from Christianity or Islam to Hinduism. A total of 144 persons adopted Islam whereas Christianity received 119 new believers in the year, shows the data.
72% of the new converts to Hinduism were Dalit Christians, mostly Christian Cheramars, Christian Sambavas and Christian Pulayas. It was evident that lack of reservation benefits forced many Dalit Christians to re-embrace Hinduism.
Christianity lost 242 believers to the other two religions and attracted only 119 persons.
Islam gained 144 new believers and lost 40 during the period. Buddhism received two new believers who switched from Hinduism.
77% of the new converts to Islam were Hindus and 63% women. It attracted the highest number of persons from Ezhava, Thiyya and Nair communities. 25 persons, including 13 females, switched from Hindu Ezhava to Islam, says the report.
Many Dalit Christians are understood to re-embrace Hinduism due to lack of reservation benefits for the community.
