CHENNAI: A Hindu outfit hijacked a private conversion ceremony of a Christian Filipino woman to Hinduism in the city on Monday morning.

Myra Sagun Guerrero aka Sandya, a Filipino, who got married to Srinivasan Santhosh Kumar, a Hindu Tamil, visited Dharmapura Aadheenam (mutt) office in T Nagar to embrace Hinduism legally. But, without the couple’s knowledge, the Hindu Makkal Katchi (HMK) had invited mediapersons for the event, calling it a ‘ ghar wapsi’ programme. Cadres of the outfit were also present, drawing unwanted attention on the couple.

For the couple, dressed in casuals, it was a simple plan to get the certificate of conversion from the adheenam. “We were surprised when suddenly cameras turned on us,” said Kumar, a supervisor with Singapore Technology Marine, a premier shipyard agency. The woman used to work with a resort in Singapore, and it was love at first sight for the couple who met in 2009. With blessings from both families, they tied the knot in a marriage hall in St Thomas Mount on May 8 this year after she went through some rituals two days earlier.

“I feel blessed,” Guerrero said, completely unaware of HMK’s bid to showcase her conversion as its own programme. The HMK sponsored the 30-minute conversion ritual with the support of Hindu Sadhu Samiti president Swami Sadhasivananda, before naming her Sandya. Incidentally, the bridegroom’s family had named her Sandya a few years ago, which combines alphabets from her husband’s name Santhosh and his mother Sathya.

HMK president Arjun Sampath, however, claimed that the couple had approached the outfit for the conversion, but the family was not aware of the outfit’s involvement. “The girl embraced Hinduism voluntarily. They (couple) approached us, and we made all arrangements with the blessings of adheenam. We did all the shuddhi (purification) rituals,” he said.

He said another ‘ghar wapsi’ or homecoming would take place at the same venue on May 31 for 11 families from Foreshore Estate in Chennai and Tiruvallur district.

