Monetary Incentives are Increasing Conversions in the Ulhasnagar Sindhi Community
- Christians converted from Hinduism attend Church in Mumbai
Mumbai, India (CHAKRA) – A tight-knit Sindhi community in Ulhasnagar on the north-east side of Mumbai is facing social problems due to many recent refugees converting from Hinduism to Christianity. The township was made for Sindhi refugees who came from Pakistan after partition. The conversions have increased drastically within the last two years.
Indian Sindhi’s who dealt with the traumatic experience of living in Pakistan after partition, are known to be some of the staunchest Hindus in India, so it is no surprise that many of the elders are not in high spirits after revelations of conversions.
About 1.75% of the Sindhi population has changed their religious faith within the last two years. That is about 7000 people out of 400,000 Sindhi speaking Hindus in Ulhasnagar. The Sindhi Hindu community is upset with the sudden drastic changes and are more so because many of the Sindhi’s who have converted do not consider it to be a conversion but rather state that they have just chosen a different faith. Most have not even changed their Hindu names.
Some Hindus have been upset with this and claim that they have no hatred towards any religion but they believe that if someone is going to follow another religion, then technically their names should be changed as well. They believe that global recession is to blame for these conversions in the last two years in which missionaries have come in, offered “big gifts” to increase a following towards Christianity.
“When people have lost their businesses and have a hard time making ends meet, the victims of the results of a recession should not be taken advantage of by another community to convert,” said a senior citizen from the community.
The Sindhi speaking Hindu’s in Ulhasnagar take pride in their strength to leave Pakistan during the partition rather than being forced into converting to Islam. Millions of Hindus were forced to convert to Islam while stuck on the Pakistan side of the border after partition so the Sindhi speaking Hindus who escaped and defeated that pressure are left confused with this new trend of conversions over just a recession.
