Religious conversion, said Mahatma Gandhi, is a matter between man and his maker.

But the BJP, which arguably is not opposed to Christians embracing Hinduism or to Richard Gere becoming a Buddhist, has promised to bring in an anti-conversion law in Jharkhand.

The media reported that conversion would be banned by the law. Presumably what they meant was ?forcible conversion? because voluntary conversion is guaranteed by the Constitution. It is a little silly of course because the victim of alleged forcible conversion can still reach out to the police and of course to the Sangh parivar for protection.

But neither BJP nor the chief minister has cared to explain why they feel it is so important to bring in the legislation. How many complaints of ?forcible? conversion have they, or the police, received so far? How many such people does the BJP state president Yadunath Pandey know personally?

It of course serves a political purpose to divert attention from other issues ? religion after all was said to be the opium of the masses---and by projecting a perceived threat, the party can hope to mobilise a certain group of gullible people. But as the Ayodhya experience would have shown them, it is like riding the tiger. It is difficult to dismount because the tiger then would devour you.

One hopes better sense prevails and the BJP drops the issue. If Krishna temples are coming up in several parts of Great Britain the Hindus must be terribly insecure to require an anti-conversion bill. Besides, it is such a waste of energy and time. Surely the NDA government in the state has better things to do ?

The paranoid sections of our society have already ensured that foreign missionaries are no longer allowed into the country. The ones who came here and made a mark are leaving us steadily.

Educational institutions which had the benefit of foreign missionaries would vouch for their sincerity, commitment and contribution. After the foreign missionaries have left or dropped dead, these institutions are no longer the same.

And having studied in such institutions for more than a decade, this writer can say with conviction that he did not come across a single case of ?conversion?, forced or otherwise, during all those years.

The first Christian missionaries arrived in the Chotanagpur plateau via Chaibasa. And the first to arrive were not the Catholics but German protestants who travelled through Chakradharpur and Khunti to Ranchi. The Anglicans and the Catholics followed. That was a century and a half ago and in the late nineteenth century Christian missionaries did convert a large number of people, specially tribals.

Indeed the conversion of village headmen would be deemed to mean the conversion of the entire village. Thousands of conversions took place during the last quarter of the nineteenth century and by the First World War, Christian missionaries were well entrenched in Chotanagpur.

The Catholics proved to be more aggressive, more imaginative and more enterprising and hence gradually the Protestants were left behind as the Catholic priests proved their managerial prowess by setting up a string of schools, colleges, hospitals, orphanages and special institutions. Many of them were set up in remote areas and provided tribals and the local people the chance of a lifetime to transform themselves. The new faithful benefited in various ways.

The Catholic Cooperative Society, relief society etc. came up to offer the converts provisions at cheaper rates, easy credit and assistance in times of crises.

The material and tangible benefits might have attracted a few more people to change their faith but had their number been significant, the Christian population in the state would not have been just four per cent or around 11 lakh people. Tribals are said to constitute 27 per cent of the 2.69 crore people, which would come to around 70 lakh people in all. In other words, assuming that all Christians in the state are tribals, the ?infidels? constitute around 16 per cent of the tribal population in the state. Or 84 per cent of tribals in the state, according to the last census, are not Christians.

The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) would obviously claim that the number of Christians in the state would have been higher but for their aggressive campaign against conversion.

The VHP has been at the forefront of the anti-Christian tirade, dubbing missionaries as anti-social, questioning their integrity and periodically organising ?purification? (shuddhikaran) sessions to re-convert them into ?Hinduism? the ?misguided?. It has now made the somewhat bizarre claim that there are ?undeclared? Christians in the state. Tribals in Jharkhand, VHP leaders believe, have converted to Christianity in large numbers but have not acknowledged it publicly. They are biding for time, the VHP fears, and would suddenly rise one day and come out of hiding.

The spectre clearly haunts them but surely that is not a good enough excuse for a legislation. If the government is serious about anti-conversion bill, the least it can do is to issue a white paper on the subject first.