BJP leader and former home minister L K Advani, current on his Bharat Suraksha Yatra, said in Tirupati that India has seen a rise in religious conversions. He said that national and state legislations should be introduced in the country to prevent conversions through inducement and coercion.

L K Advani surely was not talking about any conversions to Hinduism - conversion in Indian political parlance means conversion by Christian missionaries and evangelists into Christianity from Hindiusm and from adivasi beliefs. Conversions to Islam is mentioned in India usually only in the context of Hindu girls being abducted or running away with Muslim boys.

L K Advani said that ""We strongly condemn the campaign of proselytisation which poses a grave threat to Hindu society. We demand stern action against those who indulge in such activities.,"

Tirumala is a major Hindu religious and cultural center, and his remarks there were meant to convey to his followers that despite not being BJP president anymore, he is still strongly on the side of Hindus. They, as always, are also meant to curry favour with the RSS and those sections of the BJP (which is 99 % of the BJP if one gies by Pramod Mahajan's televised remarks).

However, despite Mr Advani's motivations in condemning religious conversions, the fact remains that there have been accusations of inducements by some Christian evangelists. Conversion by coercion is more likely to be a figment of the imagination - Christian missionaries in India are hardly in a position to coerce anyone. Stories have emerged of how some evangelists deceive the poor and illiterate for adding to their numbers - and true belief in the religion they have converted to have often been not a necessary criterion for such conversion.

Advani added, "Organised foreign-funded conversion campaign by evangelical groups is a threat to national integration and Hindu society." He also said that "It is bad enough that religious conversions are conducted in a systematic manner through inducements and coercions. But such activities more ominous when they are facilitated by foreign funded organizations, ostensibly under the garb of social service for poor and under-privileged families," he said.

The statement is meant to convey a particular message to cadres - that they are on the right track when they protest against conversions and occasionally attack evangelists. No politician exhorts his cadres to actually go out and indulge in violence - but the cadres infer what they are expected to infer, and once violence ensues, Indian politicians normally decry the violence but continue to support cause. Mr Advani si no exception to this rule.

The fact remains in India that Christian missionaries have been a mixed blessing for India. And the wide variety of Christian missionaries make it difficult for those who support or oppose them. Painting the entire bunch of missionaries, Christian priests and nuns with the same brush without taking into consideration the various separate institutions that operate among the poor in India suits the purposes of the BJP, and it will continue to do so. Ideological confusion is the result of revealing the complexity of an issue such as conversion - and BJP and LK Advani has always shied away from that.

From Tirupati, Advani will proceed to Tamil Nadu.