BJP MP Surya puts his foot in mouth, withdraws remarks

Bengaluru: With some remarks of his talk on Hindu revival in which he called for reconversion sparking controversy, Lok Sabha member from Bengaluru South Tejasvi Surya on Monday unconditionally withdraw statements without specifying them.

The BJP Yuva Morcha's National president said certain statements from his speech has regrettably created an avoidable controversy.

"At a program held in Udupi Sri Krishna Mutt 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 said in a tweet.

The MP has however not specified which statements he was referring to from his nearly one-and-half hour long speech.

During his talk on Saturday, Surya said that mere stopping conversion of Hindus will not be enough, and reconverting those who left Hinduism should become a priority.

Calling on to ensure that no Hindu ever walks out of the fold to prevent further erosion of "Hindu base", he had said, "this addresses half the problem, the other half is those who have already converted.....numerical strength decides political power in a democracy and demography decides destiny in a democracy.....the only option left for Hindus is to reconvert all those people who have gone out of the Hindu fold."

"There is only one solution... those people who have left their mother religion for various socio, political and economic reasons over the course of India's history, those who have gone out of the Hindu fold, must be brought back to Hindu faith in whole," he said, adding that every temple and mutt should set yearly targets to undertake the reconversion to ensure that Hinduism is rejuvenated.

Further stating that it's not just re-converting those Muslims or Christians near our homes, Surya said, "converting Muslims in today's Pakistan as Hindus should also be our priority. That is when we will have Pakistan back in geography."

Urging that Hindus should exercise political power, he said, "From Panchayat to Parliament vote only for those who are in favour of Hindu interests..."

He also says that Hindu control on state power is non-negotiable for the survival of Hindu race.

Surya also said that those religions, cultures and civilisations that existed before Christianity and before the entry of Islam to those lands, "they were completely vanquished and Sanatana Hindu Dharma is the only exception."

He also goes on to call Christianity and Islam as "predatory faiths" and says they are not mere religions, but "political imperial ideologies".

Surya's comments come close on the heels of Karnataka Assembly last week passing the contentious anti-conversion Bill during the recently-concluded winter session of the state legislature in Belagavi, amid protest by opposition parties.

The Bill is yet to become a law as it is pending for tabling and passage in the Legislative Council. PTI