religion// Hindu nationalists claim that Muslims and Christians have been forcing Hindus to convert to their religions for centuries. So there is deep sensitivity to proselytizing by non- Hindus, particularly foreigners. Visas for religious professionals are strictly limited, some missionaries are instructed not to proselytize openly and, now that a Hindu nationalist has become India’s prime minister, hardline Hindu groups have begun a longdreamed campaign to claw back some of those conversion losses.

Recently nearly 200 Muslims were reported to have been converted en masse to Hinduism by an offshoot of the powerful Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, a Hindu nationalist group that is the ideological wing of the governing Bharatiya Janata Party and that once employed the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi.

The same group has announced plans to convert thousands of Christians to Hinduism on Christmas Day.

Some recent converts reported being tricked into the ceremonies with promises of economic benefits. But the leader of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, Mohan Bhagwat, has promised to press ahead with the conversions, which his group has called “Homecomings”.

“We will bring back those who have lost their way. They did not go on their own,” Bhagwat said recently.

About 80 percent of India’s 1.2 billion people are Hindus, but nearly 15 per cent are Muslims and the rest are Christian, Buddhist, Adivasi (indigenous tribes) or Zoroastrians, known as Parsees.