Thiruvananthapuram:
The Vishwa Hindu Parishad today claimed that 27 people from five families have "re-converted" to Hinduism from Christianity, in a programme organised by the party in Kerala's Alappuzha district.
According to Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) district President Advocate Prathap G Padickal, "the details of the reconverts have been withheld temporarily from the media, but they reconverted through the "ghar wapsi" programme because they were not happy with their earlier situations since they were not receiving any benefits."
The VHP has also claimed that these requests for the ghar wapsi ceremonies were made by the people themselves. Last month these ceremonies became controversial in Kerala after the VHP claimed over 50 people in different instances in Kottayam and Alappuzha had returned to Hindu faith.
Kerala Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala had earlier stated that no complaints of forced conversions were filed and neither were any reported. Adding to which, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy had assured that "the state is keeping a close watch and all the present conversions are voluntary."