New Delhi : The Uttar Pradesh government’s stringent anti-conversion law has been frequently used to target Muslims and Christians, with arrests and harsh penalties imposed on those accused of religious conversion through inducement. However, a glaring contradiction in its enforcement has emerged—while conversions to Islam or Christianity are criminalized, the government tacitly endorses conversions to Hinduism under the guise of ‘Ghar Wapsi.’
A recent incident in Lucknow has brought this hypocrisy to light. On Saturday, two Muslims were converted to Hinduism in a formal ceremony at the Mankameshwar Temple, where head priest Mahant Divya Giri conducted the ritual by applying a tilak and renaming them. The event was attended by Wasim Rizvi, now known as Thakur Jitendra Narayan Singh, who has been actively involved in such conversion drives.
The two individuals, Sarfaraz Ahmed (40) from Bijnor and Gulnaz (32) from Shahjahanpur, were renamed Rajan Mishra and Virat Sharma, respectively. Claiming the conversion was voluntary, Jitendra Narayan Singh handed them cheques of ₹11,000 each and announced a monthly stipend of ₹3,000 as an incentive for embracing Hinduism.
This blatant financial inducement exposes the double standards of the Yogi government, which aggressively enforces the anti-conversion law when it involves Islam or Christianity but remains silent on organized and incentivized conversions to Hinduism. The selective application of the law raises serious questions about religious freedom and government-backed majoritarianism.
