Now Reading: Kerala conversion data shows most new Hindus were Christians
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Kerala conversion data shows most new Hindus were Christians
Research by the Media Development and Research Foundation, Kozhikode, published by Malayala Manorama in 2017, found that 60 per cent of people who converted in Kerala between January 2011 and December 2016…
Research by the Media Development and Research Foundation, Kozhikode, published by Malayala Manorama in 2017, found that 60 per cent of people who converted in Kerala between January 2011 and December 2016 chose to become Hindus. Gazette records of name changes showed 8,334 conversions in seven years: 4,968 became Hindu, of whom 4,756 were formerly Christian and 212 were Muslim. Men converts (2,724) outnumbered women (2,244) among new Hindus.
Of 1,864 people who became Muslim, 78 per cent were formerly Hindu, with roughly equal numbers of men and women. Among 1,496 who became Christian, 95 per cent were previously Hindu. Six people became Buddhist. A separate 2016 Times of India report, citing a police intelligence report, said 5,793 people converted between 2011 and 2015 in Kerala, of whom 4,719 were formerly Hindu and 1,074 were Christian.
The state has no official conversion data. These figures are far lower than claims by the Vishva Hindu Parishad: the VHP said in 2019 it had converted 25,000 Muslims and Christians in 2018, and leader Pravin Togadia claimed in 2016 that the group had converted over five lakh Christians and 2.5 lakh Muslims to Hinduism in the previous ten years.
Indian Opinion Analysis
India has no central conversion registry, state-level 'anti-conversion' laws in several states rely on district magistrates to vet conversions, but enforcement data is sparse. The Kerala numbers suggest that any claim of mass conversions out of Hinduism is unsupported by gazette records, though the VHP's claims are not directly comparable because they include Adivasi communities who may not have registered name changes. The legal standard for conversion in India was set by the Supreme Court's 1977 Rev Stainislaus ruling, which held that the right to propagate religion does not include a right to convert. What matters next is whether the pending Uniform Civil Code debate will impose a national reporting requirement for conversions, and how state governments will use existing laws to investigate the gap between official records and organisational tallies.
Source: nationalheraldindia.com
This story was synthesised by AI from the source linked above.
