VHP shows no concern as 45 people in Gujarat become Buddhists
Buddhism is a wing of Hinduism says VHP
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Ahmedabad : A group of 45 people in the Balasinor Taluka of Gujarat’s Mahisagar district have recently converted to Buddhism, and on Thursday the local chapter of the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) said that it had no problem with the conversion, according to the news reported by IANS.
They had already converted when their applications were approved by the district collector. This transformation occurred on Tuesday.
Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) state spokesman Hitendrasinh Rajput responded, “Buddhism is a wing of Hinduism, it is mentioned in the Darshan Shastra, but we are against abusing Hindu deities.” Certain assurances are being used as bait to convince people to convert. The effect is similar to offering a bribe to them.
The VHP reaction came after the news was reported in regional dailies.
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According to reports, 45 persons from three districts converted to Buddhism without prior permission of the district magistrate as per the rule of the Gujarat Freedom Religion Act, 2003. Under this Act, any person who wants to quit the religion in which one is born and adopt another religion, will have to take prior permission from the district magistrate or collector.
“There is no violation of the law,” defended by Kamlesh Mayavanshi, who too has adopted Buddhism along with 44 others. His defense was, “All those, who wanted to quit the Hindu religion, had applied to the district collector a month ago, according to norms. The district collector has to approve the application within 30 days from the filing of the application, if not approved, it is deemed to be approved, and so we believe we are granted permission to adopt Buddhism.”
Mahisagar District Collector Bhavin Pandya told IANS that he has received applications seeking permission for the conversion, “which are under process, as those who wished to quit from three districts, from respective taluka Deputy Collectors opinions were sought and so it took time”.
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