K S Sudarshan, leader of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh [RSS, paramilitary formation of fundamentalist nationalist Hindus, ed.], yesterday accused American Intelligence of seeking to convert India to Christianity with the help of non-governmental organizations.
The leader said: "The CIA [Central Intelligence Agency, ed.] wants to have one Christian church in every post office area. To attain this end, the American President Bush allocated 20 billion dollars."
Sudarshan made these charges during celebrations marking 100 years since the setting up of the RSS that were held in Madurai.
The ruling party in the southern State of Andhra Pradesh, made up of nationalist Hindus, has accused missionaries coming from Canada and the United States of organizing conversions to Christianity through fraud among local outcastes, and has called for their arrest and deportation.
S.V. Seshagiri Rao, vice-president of the Bharatia Janata Party [BJP, India's biggest political party of nationalist-Hindu inspiration] made this allegation last week during a press conference in the capital. He said: "Teams of Christian missionaries have fanned out in various tribal areas of Nalgonda district and are forcibly converting tribals to Christianity."
