Hindutva group Bajrang Dal has warned the management of the Millennium Club in Mumbai’s Juhu against allowing evangelical activities on weekends, alleging that religious conversions were taking place on the club premises, The Times of India reported on Thursday.
The development came after another club in the city, the Khar Gymkhana, cancelled the membership of cricketer Jemimah Rodrigues on Sunday, The Indian Express reported.
This came after some members objected to her father Ivan using the gymkhana premises for “religious activities” and alleged that he was organising events to “convert” the “vulnerable”, the newspaper quoted Khar Gymkhana officials as saying.
At the Millennium Club, members belonging to the Protestant Christian denomination have been conducting prayers inside a hall on Sundays for more than a year, according to The Times of India.
Siddharth Khosa, son of former Congress MLA Baldev Khosa, who has been a part of the prayer meetings, refuted the claims made by the Hindutva group.
“There was a small misunderstanding,” The Times of India quoted him as saying. “Somebody has misinformed that conversion activities are conducted during prayer meets.”
However, the Bajrang Dal, citing the incident at the Khar Gymkhana, threatened to organise protests at the club and said that the management would be responsible for any disruptions to law and order.
“There are several places in the city where halls are booked,” The Times of India quoted Gautam Ravariya, co-convenor of the Bajrang Dal’s Konkan chapter, as saying. “On the pretext of conducting prayer meetings, they carry out conversion activities.”
Ravariya claimed that such meetings were conducted regularly and religious conversions took place “due to various allurements”, the newspaper reported. “We want to stop conversions in the manner,” he was quoted as saying.
The Bajrang Dal leader said that Rajiv Anand, the managing director of Millennium Club, told him that he was not aware of such activities taking place in the club.
“We told the club to stop this activity,” Ravariya said, The Times of India reported. “There are many places of worship for members of all religions. They must hold their prayer meetings there.”
Anand told the newspaper that prayer meetings were “peacefully” conducted by the group every Sunday.
“We did not notice any suspicious activity,” he said. “However, since we are an entertainment and sports club, we don’t want any religious controversy.”
Khosa said that the prayer group conducted meetings at several places and was not “forcing anybody to adopt religion”, The Times of India reported. He added that the “misunderstanding” had been “resolved amicably”.
On Sunday, members of the Khar Gymkhana took the decision to cancel the honorary three-year membership given to Rodrigues at their annual general body meeting, according to The Indian Express.
“We came to know that Jemimah Rodrigues’ father was attached to an organisation called Brother Manuel Ministries,” the newspaper quoted Khar Gymkhana managing committee member Shiv Malhotra as saying.
He claimed that the organisation had booked the presidential hall at the gymkhana for over a year and held 35 events. “We all know what was happening there,” Malhotra was quoted as saying.
Malhotra alleged: “We hear about conversions all over the country, but it’s happening right under our nose. There was dancing, expensive music equipment, big screens. As per Khar Gymkhana’s bye-laws Rule 4A of the constitution, Khar Gymkhana does not permit any religious activity.”
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