Kadi: Former Gujarat Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel on Sunday expressed concern over religious conversions by Christian missionaries and Muslims while addressing a general meeting of the Omkar Seva Mission Charitable Trust in Budasan village of Kadi.

Speaking at the event held at Pandit Deen Dayal Seva Sankul, the senior BJP leader said, “We have come to know that for the last 30 or 40 years, we (Hindus) are decreasing, and there is division among us. The population of Christians is increasing. Muslims are a separate subject; there is no need to link them with Christians. One is a supporter of terrorists, supporters of rebels, supporters of violent people. And one of them (Christians) converts by persuading, manipulating, and through temptation… The goal of both is the same: to reduce Hindus by any means, to establish dominance over Hinduism.”

“To establish this dominance, Christian missionaries are carrying out conversion activities very cleverly. They open schools, provide clothes, open hospitals and hostels, while these people (Muslims) do their work by talking about the same thing in a violent way. We have to counter these two separately,” he said.

Patel said countering such efforts requires a dual approach, with social and educational initiatives on one hand, and strong action by the government and security forces on the other. He also referred to the activities of Naxal and Left-wing groups in tribal regions, alleging that they hamper development.

Trust president Jagdishbhai Patel outlined the organisation’s welfare activities, including mass marriages and contributions toward educational projects in tribal areas. Trust secretary Baldev Giri Goswami and other dignitaries were present. DeshGujarat