Ninety-six Christians from the Unakoti district of Tripura converted back to Hinduism at Kailashahar on Sunday (20 January 2019) in the presence of members of the Hindu Jagaran Mancha, reports The Indian Express.

Hindu Jagaran Mancha leader Makhan Lal Nath stated, “They were Hindus at the beginning. Nine years back, these 98 persons of 23 families from Rachipara area were converted to Christianity. They wished to be reconverted to Hinduism, and a yajna (fire ritual) was organised to convert them back and respect their wishes.”

Nath added that most of these converted individuals were Orao and Munda tribals originally hailing from Bihar and Jharkhand; they were employed as workers at the Sonamukhi tea estate.

“We are very poor people in villages. Christians converted us and behaved with us at will. We were bewildered as they frequently misbehaved with us. This ‘Yajna’ was organised here today, and we were reconverted to Hinduism on our own volition”, stated Birsa Munda one of those reconverted.

The ghar wapsi yajna was led by a vedic scholar by the name of Chandrakanta Singha, who also heads a local Hindu organisation called Gayatri Kunja.

Another leader from the Hindu Jagaran Mancha stated that tea estate workers were converted to Christianity by missionaries who exploited their illiteracy, poverty and helplessness.