Prasad Nichenametla - Andhra Pradesh: Chandrababu Naidu accuses CM Jagan of intending religious conversions

By Dilip -

NB: These are serious allegations and if the state government has been encouraging conversion it is a violation of secular norms. It becomes criminal in cases of desecration of temples. We may keep in mind instances in north India where people of oppressed castes have threatened to convert if attacks on them don't stop, but in no case did they violate places of worship. Gandhiji was not dogmatically opposed to conversion, but made it clear that he preferred people to remain in their respective faiths and reform their practices from within.

The question hinges on two issues, the persistence of oppressive social practices; and the reduction of faith to a political badge. If Indian society does not address these problems it is destined for many more years of communal strife. I attach below some citations from Gandhi's writings on religion. DS

Temple idols desecration in Andhra Pradesh: Chandrababu Naidu accuses CM Jagan of intending religious conversions 

Telugu Desam Party chief Chandrababu Naidu has accused Chief Minister Jaganmohan Reddy of misusing his power with the intention of promoting religious conversions in Andhra Pradesh. Naidu made the sensational statements during his Saturday visit to Ramatheertham in Vizianagaram district, where an ancient idol of Lord Rama in sanctum sanctorum was found with the head portion severed on Tuesday morning. The stone image's head was found a day later in the temple pond…

https://www.deccanherald.com/national/south/temple-idols-desecration-in-andhra-pradesh-naidu-accuses-cm-jagan-of-intending-religious-conversions-934498.html

Some of Mahatma Gandhi's observations on religion

 . . . I can clearly see the time coming when people belonging to different faiths will have the same regard for other faiths that they have for their own -  Harijan, 2 Feb. 1934, p. 8

For me all the principal religions are equal in the sense that they are all true. They are supplying a felt want in the spiritual progress of humanity - Harijan, 6 Apr. 1934, p. 59

Every living faith must have within itself the power of rejuvenation if it is to live - Harijan, 28 Sept. 1935, p. 260

Personally, I think the world as a whole will never have, and need not have, a single religion - CWMG; vol. 12; Publications Division, Government of India, Delhi, 30 May 1913, p. 94

True religion ... is faith in God, and living in the presence of God, it means faith in a future life, in truth and Ahimsa - Young India, 30 Aug. 1928, p. 291

 if we are imperfect ourselves, religion as conceived by us must also be imperfect. ... Religion of our conception, being thus imperfect, is always subject to a process of evolution and reinterpretation - Yeravda Mandir, Navajivan Press, Ahmedabad, 1930, chs X & XI

If we are to make progress, we must not repeat history but make new history. We must add to the inheritance left by our ancestors. If we may make new discoveries and inventions in phenomenal world, must we declare out Bankruptcy in the spiritual domain? Is it impossible to multiply the exceptions so as to make them the rule? Must man always be brute first and man after, if at all? - Young India, 6-5-1926. GHP, v 30, p 415

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