Ghar Wapsi (Hindi, meaning “Back to Home”) is a series of re-conversion activities, facilitated by Indian Hindu organisations Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP), Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and Hindu Makkal Katchi, to facilitate conversion of Christians and Muslims back to Hinduism and Sikhism. It became a subject of public discussion in 2014.The Bharatiya Janata Party’s Yogi Adityanath has claimed this campaign would continue unless conversions to other religions are banned altogether in the country.
The Vishva Hindu Parishad and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh organised several Ghar Wapsi events in Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, and Goa. The Indian Express reported that Scheduled Caste Manjhi families demanded better facilities along with education and healthcare before they converted.
In a Supreme Court judgment, the judges ruled that reconversion to Hinduism will not prevent a person from accessing quota benefits and adopt the caste of his forefathers. The bench further held that “the Scheduled Caste persons belonging to Hindu religion, who had embraced Christianity with some kind of hope or aspiration, have remained socially, educationally and economically backward.”
Etymology
The word ghar is of Hindi origin which means “home”. The word wapsi means “to return”.
This term indicates the belief held by the organisations facilitating such programmes that most of the Muslims and Christians in India have descended from Hindus, and hence are returning to their “home” through reconversion.
Major instances
Telangana and Andhra Pradesh
More than 8,000 people in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh converted to Hinduism from July 2014 – December 2014 under the Ghar Wapsi programme. According to a VHP official, 1,200 people converted to Hinduism in a Ghar Wapsi event in Hyderabad. In October 2019, 500 Christian Dalits in Andhra Pradesh were convinced to become Hindu and promise to never go to church again.
Jharkhand
In April 2017, at least 53 tribal Christian families converted to Hinduism as part of the RSS’s “Christianity-free” block campaign in Arki, Jharkhand. And at least seven other Christian families underwent a Shuddhikaran (purification ceremony) in Kochasindhri village.
In March 2021, 181 Christians in Garhwa district were converted to the tribal Sarna religion.
Punjab
Between 2011 to 2014, about 8,000 Christians in Punjab were converted back to Sikhism. Most of the reconversion was done in the Hoshiarpur district, followed by Amritsar and Batala.
West Bengal
More than 100 tribal Christians were converted to Hinduism in the West Bengal’s Birbhum district.
Uttar Pradesh
During Agra religious conversions 2014, it was claimed that 100 – 250 Muslims converted to Hinduism. In May 2017, RSS performed conversion of at least 22 Muslims, including women and children, into Hinduism in a secretive ceremony at an Aryasamaj Temple in Ambedkar Nagar district of Faizabad, Uttar Pradesh.
Tripura
In January 2019, 96 Tribal families that converted to Christianity 9 years prior, underwent Ghar Wapsi to reconvert back to Hinduism. The event took place in Kailashahar in Unakoti district in Tripura. The event was done by the Hindu Jagaran Mancham, an affiliate of the RSS, and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP).
Kerala
In 2015, about 35 people were reportedly converted to Hinduism at an event organised by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) in Alappuzha. In 2015, 35 people converted to Hinduism in Kottayam district. They were Dalit families who had converted to Christianity a few generations back.
Tamil Nadu
In 2015, first ghar wapsi happened in Tamil Nadu where 18 Dalit Christians reconverted to Hinduism by a ceremony done by the Hindu Makkal Katchi.
Gujarat
In 2020, 144 tribal Hindus who converted to Christianity many years ago converted back to Hinduism in Dang district, Gujarat by the Agniveer organisation.
Reception
Many Hindus in India, especially those affiliated with Hindutva-oriented organisations such as the BJP and RSS, are supportive of Ghar Wapsi efforts to counter what they perceive as mass conversions to Islam and Christianity and to a lesser extent Buddhism (neo-Buddhism), among Dalit Hindus in India. Some secular groups and political parties are critical of Ghar Wapsi, especially when it is done with the state’s support, as they say that it threatens freedom of religion in the country.