In the Meerut district of Uttar Pradesh, a Christian conversion racket has been exposed. The police conducted raids at a house in Vikas Nagar Colony and found over 40 children and women. It has been reported that in a network marketing style, the non-Christian people were being brainwashed with the promise to bear the expenses of getting their children married, money, and curing their diseases.
A pastor named Bijju, from Kerala, rented a house in the Vikas Enclave Colony in the Kankerkheda police station area two months ago and now resides there with his family. He used to organise prayer gatherings here every Sunday, and a big number of people would attend from the morning till the evening. Seeing this, the locals became suspicious and alerted the local police and Hindu organisations.
On Sunday, 20th October, when the police and Hindu activists arrived at Bijju’s rented house, they found women and children sitting on the ground while Bijju and his wife were seated on chairs and inciting them against Hinduism. “Love the one who loves you. Today is Karva Chauth but the family does not love you, God does, so take refuge in God,” Bijju was heard saying.
He further said: “You have to worship Jesus. What is money? You will get whatever you want. What have your gods given you to date? You don’t even get respect in society. Come to Jesus. You will get everything here.” Bijju’s remarks enraged the local people and Hindu activists. Meanwhile, BJP councillor Rishipal Singh was also present there.
Following this, the police transported Bijju, his wife, and another individual to the police station. The police investigated and arrested these three people after receiving a complaint. BJP leader Anmol alleged that after interrogation, he learned that pastor Bijju and his wife had converted 300 individuals so far.
During its ground investigation, Bhaskar’s team found that this conversion racket was being operated in a planned fashion. Akin to network marketing, the person who is converted has to bring two other people and get them converted and in exchange, they receive certain benefits.
The accused pastor Bijju used to make three promises to lure people into converting to Christianity, First, he would arrange the marriage of the boy or girl of the converted family and the expenses would be borne by the church. Second, he would promise to give Rs 2 to 5 lakhs to the converted person or family to start their own business. Third, he would promise holy water and exorcism to “cure diseases.”
According to BJP leader Anmol, women and children have been visiting Bijju’s house for the past one and a half months. Later, it turned out that they were propagating Christianity. Anmol reports that Bijju and his wife have been renting houses in different areas of Meerut for the past 15 years, converting people to Christianity through prayer gatherings.
The BJP leader added that a woman who came here told that anything they learnt about Christianity had to be shared and taught to two other people. They were asked to tell them about God’s grace and miracles. Once converted, that person’s task was to prepare another one for conversion to Christianity. In this fashion, the network continued to form, particularly targeting women and poor families.
Speaking about the matter, SP City Ayush Vikram Singh said that there is an allegation of conversion and its investigation has been handed over to CO Daurala Suchita Singh. He said that further action would be taken on the basis of whatever facts emerge after the investigation. SP Ayush Vikram Singh said that if the matter of conversion turns out to be true, then stringent action will be taken against the accused.
