VHP8217;s self-help way to end conversions

Swami Chinmayanand Maharaj, MP, told The Indian Express that a study was being conducted by the VHP to identify the villages where the plan would be executed. Food distribution, he said, was a short-term solution; in the long run, only the employment generation programmes would pay off.

Chinmayanand, who has chosen to work in the predominantly adivasiBastar area of Madhya Pradesh, said the advantages of fertile land and temperate climate had been wiped out by the lack of any Government programme to make the adivasis self-dependent.

He acknowledged, however, that the sadhus and the VHP had realised too late that a large chunk of society was illiterate and hungry. 8220;We thought that after Independence, it would be the Government8217;s responsibility to help the downtrodden, but it neglected illiteracy and unemployment 8212; the main reason behind conversions 8212; in 70 per cent of the villages,8221; he said, and added,8220;Yeh sab sarkar ki laparwahi aur hamari galatfahmi ki wajah se hua,8221; it was because of the Government8217;s carelessness and our misunderstanding. The VHP was now certain, he said, that the Government would not be able to improve the condition of the downtrodden.

There are also plans to eradicate untouchability and inequality, under which the sadhus will eat with the Dalits and the adivasis. The intention is that the upper castes will be motivated bythis action.

Pravin Togadia, VHP8217;s international general secretary, said the sadhus would now work to their full potential and on a large scale, to bring about social reform, especially eradication of untouchability. 8220;Till a few centuries ago, it was considered a sin for a Hindu to cross the sea. But it has changed. In the same manner, inequality will be removed,8221;he said.