VHP President Vishnu Hari Dalmia, who meets regularly with Advani at functions outside the office, particularly religious events, says that when India achieved independence from Britain in 1947 some members of the Constituent Assembly called for a ban on conversion and proselytizing. A VHP report to the federal government claims that nearly 200,000 of India's 23 million Christians are missionaries who are engaged in conversion activities, and that the goal of Christian groups in India is to establish nearly one million churches and thousands of Christian institutes, schools and missions across the country. It accuses the West of actively helping the church with political support and by pumping in millions of dollars into India. Therefore we want the government to immediately ban Christian conversion in the country. The VHP will press for legislation in the upcoming budget session of Parliament to ban foreign Christian missionaries in India and their conversion activities among rural and tribal areas, he warned.
Freedom of religion is guaranteed to all citizens in the Constitution of India.
Therefore, the VHP's claim that everyone in India should be a Hindu is a ridiculous proposition. What we want to stop is the way the church is converting gullible people by offering money, medical help, and education. Christian leaders respond that they are empowering tribals and low-caste Hindus by teaching them how to read and write and making them aware of their minority rights.