Tejasvi Surya Withdraws 'Reconvert Hindus' Remark After Video Goes Viral, Says It Created 'Avoidable Controversy'

The BJP MP said that those who had left Hindusim and had adopted other religions due to various social, political and economic reasons, needed to be reintroduced to their mother religion.

BJP Yuva Morcha national president and MP Tejasvi Surya (Getty Images)

New Delhi: Bhartiya Janta Party Yuva Morcha national president and MP Tejasvi Surya who gave a call to “bring back within Hindu fold” everyone who has gone out of it, has now withdrawn his statement. 

Taking to Twitter, the Karnataka BJP MP wrote, "At a program held in Udupi Sri Krishna Mutt (Matth) two days ago, I spoke on the subject of ‘Hindu Revival in Bharat’. Certain statements from my speech has regrettably created an avoidable controversy. I therefore unconditionally withdraw the statements."

Surya had said on Sunday that those who have undergone conversion should reconvert themselves into Hindus. Surya was addressing a program of the Sri Krishna Matth in Udupi on December 25. He further said that all matths and temples should have “annual targets” for the completion of such religious re-conversions.

“The Hindu has been taken out from his mother religion. There is only one possible solution to address this anomaly. Those people who have left their mother religion and have for various socio-political, economic reasons over the course of India’s history have gone out of the Hindu fold must be brought back in whole, into the Hindu fold, brought back to the mother faith,” Tejasvi said.

The event was streamed live on Youtube and one snippet of his hour-long speech was shared by ANI.

The BJP MP can be heard speaking in Kannada, and according to the Indian Express, he said, “There are people who belonged to Hinduism but were converted to Islam or Christianity. It is our duty to bring these people back into the fold of Hinduism. Also, Hindus in Pakistan who were converted to Islam should be brought back into the fold".

He added, “All the mutts and temples should have annual targets to bring back people to Hindu religion who left the faith. For instance, there were people who had to undergo religious conversion because of the Tipu Sultan. That is why it is important to bring these people back to the fold of Hinduism. That is the only way a renaissance can happen.”

Surya further added that Hindus should exercise political power. While numerical strength decides political power in a democracy, demography decides a nation’s destiny. The only way left for Hindus is to reconvert those who have left Hinduism.

It is pertinent to note that the BJP MP's call for reconversion to Hinduism comes at a time when the state after witnessing massive protests over The Karnataka Right to Freedom of Religion Bill, 2021, commonly referred to as the anti-conversion Bill was passed in the Assembly. The bill prohibits conversion from one religion to another by misrepresentation, force, fraud, allurement or marriage.