"Not Against Christians But Oppose Cow Slaughtering, Conversion": Chhattisgarh's Vishnu Sai

Clarifying his stance, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai stated that he is not against people following Christianity as their religious faith adding that his concerns revolve around specific actions like the "slaughtering of cows and religious conversion".

Highlighting the presence of the second-largest church in Asia located in Kunkuri, his elected constituency, he clarified, "We are not against Christian people; instead, we oppose some acts like slaughtering of cows and religious conversion."

"Keep on continuing the act of serving but do not kill cows. We Hindus consider cows as our mothers and believe that gods as well as goddesses reside in it and worship it. So please stop killing cows as there are several other things to consume," said Mr Sai.

Responding to incidents of religious conversion in the Bastar region, the Chief Minister perceived them as a conspiracy to weaken the BJP.

He suggested that people in tribal-dominated Bastar and Surguja regions were being misled, creating a misconception that they are not Hindu. This, he believes, is an attempt to disconnect them from the BJP and service to the nation.

Urging people not to engage in the act of religious conversion, he said that it is a different situation when anyone willingly changes his/her religious faith but carrying out conversion by offering poor people the facility of education or through healing prayer is not right.

He attributed such incidents to certain organizations aiming to damage the BJP and nationalism.

However, he expressed confidence that this strategy would not succeed in the long run, as people have become aware, evident in the BJP's recent landslide victory in the elections.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)