BJP, RSS leaders meet to discuss religious conversions

New Delhi: Top leaders of Bharatiya Janata Party and Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh met on Monday night to discuss the escalating controversy over forced conversions by some Sangh Parivar outfits that has paralysed Parliament where some crucial Bills in insurance and coal sector remained stuck.

The meeting convened over dinner at Union Minister Nitin Gadkari's residence to ensure better coordination with the government was attended among others by BJP President Amit Shah and RSS second-in-command Bhayyaji Joshi besides Union Ministers Rajnath Singh, Arun Jaitley and Sushma Swaraj. The winter session of Parliament ends on Tuesday.

Party sources said the leaders discussed the current political situation and issues of governance at a time when the opposition has attacked the government and BJP over forced conversions across the country.

The discussions are being held when right wing Hindu outfits are pushing for conversions with their top leaders terming them as "Ghar Vapsi" (homecomings).

Party leaders were tight-lipped about discussions that took place in the meeting while BJP sources said it was a periodic review meeting where leaders of BJP, its ideological fountainhead RSS and government sit together to discuss the political situation and other urgent matters to ensure smooth coordination with the party.

At the meeting, the RSS and the BJP were reported to have stressed on the need for a campaign for an anti-conversion law. The government and the BJP have expressed their readiness to have such a law but put the onus on the opposition to give its support for this measure.

Among others present at the meeting included BJP general secretaries Ram Lal and Ram Madhav, both of whom have been closely associated with the RSS and seior Sangh leader Bajrang Lal Gupta.

The government is concerned over the opposition's vociferous attitude in Parliament, where the Rajya Sabha functioning has been paralysed for the past many days with key reform legislations like the Insurance Bill pending for approval. The row reached Lok Sabha today.