nationpaper

Updated: Jun 19, 2016 06:26 IST

RANCHI: Nearly 24 Christians on Saturday embraced Hinduism at a village in Jharkhand’s Gumla district hardly eight months after 100 tribesmen from the same district adopted Christianity, indicating a possible Ghar Wapsi campaign running in the backyard of the left wing extremism-hit tribal state.

At a function of Hindu Jagran Manch (HJM) in Khambhiya village, the 24 members of two families adopted Hinduism after hours of rituals, including ‘Satyanarayan Puja’ and purification with holy water.

Amit Thakur, member of state working committee of HJM, said that all 24 members had voluntarily embraced Hinduism.

“They had expressed desire to adopt Hinduism after seeing a Sarna Mahasammelan (gathering of nature worshipping tribes) organized by us in the village a year ago,” Thakur said.

Sanjay Verma, state-level office-bearer of HJM, said that the families have come back home. “If a lost man returns home, all his family and relatives would welcome him irrespective of where he stayed after leaving home,” he said.

Police said that it had information about Christian families expressing their desire to adopt Hinduism in a gram sabha of the village. However, they said that a similar Ghar Waapsi programme was scheduled earlier but the families did not turn up for the event.