NEW DELHI: Amid a raging debate over the arrest of rights activists with alleged Naxal links, a BJP training guidebook for party workers said Maoists supported by agencies in Pakistan and China and forced religious conversions were serious threats to national security.“Maoists, also called Naxals, are reportedly conspiring to conduct joint strikes with the support of terrorist outfits active in north-eastern states,” a chapter titled ‘Internal Challenges’ said.BJP general secretary Bhupendra Yadav justified the contents in the booklet and said Maoists were a serious threat to the country as they didn’t believe in the Constitution and electoral democracy. “There is ample evidence confirming foreign funding to Maoists, whose divisive agenda must be dealt with sternly,” he said. “Organisations can have different ideologies but can’t pursue anti-national agenda,” he added.General secretary (training) Murlidhar Rao said the party’s position on Maoists was clear and consistent even when it was a marginal force.“Unlike other parties, BJP has been consistently opposed to the Maoist ideology. Other parties like Congress, which had banned Maoist organisations, have changed their stand,” Rao said. “BJP’s opposition to Maoists is neither relative nor comparative,” he added.Rao said BJP had taken “forced conversions” as a challenge. “It is about saving the identity of people, mainly in tribal areas,” he added. Yadav said Article 25 of the Constitution gave freedom to practice and propagate religion but the Supreme Court had ruled that it would be a crime if conversions were done through allurement.The booklet said a conspiracy to change the demography of the country had been going on for years in the guise of “Jihadi” and “Masihi”, an apparent reference to proselytising work of some Christian groups.