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70 Christians reconvert to Hinduism in Manoharpur

Bibhuti Mishra in Bhubaneswar

Some 70 tribal Christians of Manoharpur reconverted to Hinduism on Friday.

Manoharpur village in Orissa had come into the limelight when missionary Graham Stewart Staines and his two young sons were brutally torched, allegedly by Dara Singh and his supporters, in January 1999. Since then, a number of Hindu outfits and volunteers had been working in the village, and in a significant development they could persuade 70 persons from 12 families to reconvert to Hinduism.

A 'Dharma Sabha' (religious ceremony) was held in the presence of the Puri Shankaracharya where men were tonsured and accepted back into Hinduism. More than four thousand people from nearby villages were present on the occasion, and there was heavy police deployment to avoid any untoward incident.

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