Mumbai Jan 24 (IANS) A majority of Muslims in Maharashtra who chose to change their religion have adopted Hinduism while a majority of Hindus preferred to convert to Islam in the state an RTI reply has revealed.
As per data of the last 43 months acquired by RTI activist Anil Galgali 1 687 people voluntarily converted to different faiths across the state said the figures of all religious conversions provided by the Directorate of Government Printing & Stationery (DGPS).
Of these people who opted to change their religion voluntarily owing to various social-religious reasons the faith-wise breakdown was: 1 166 Hindus 263 Muslims 165 Christians 53 Buddhists 16 Sikhs nine Jains four Neo-Buddhists and 11 others.
Out of these Hindus 664 converted to Islam followed by 258 adopting Buddhism 138 embracing Christianity 88 becoming Jains and 11 taking to Sikhism one Neo-Buddhist and six to other religions says the DGPS data.
"Islam remains a high favourite among the religion change seekers with 749 out of the total 1 687 between June 10 2014 and January 16 2018 " Galgali said citing the data.
In contrast from among the Muslims who decided to convert 87 percent - or 228 embraced Hinduism 21 embraced Christianity 12 became Buddhists and two became Jains.
Out of the Buddhists changing their religion 21 embraced Islam 17 became Hindus 14 took to Christianity and one to Jainism.
Of the Christians who changed their faith 100 embraced Hinduism 47 took to Islam 11 became Buddhists five adopted Jainism and two became followers of Sikhism.
From the 16 Sikhs who changed their religion 12 embraced Islam and two each adopted Christianity and Jainism.
Among the nine Jains four converted to Islam two each became Hindus and Christians and one embraced Sikhism.
"These are only the numbers available with the DGPS which records the changes reported to it. In actual terms the number of people who change their religions is much higher and needs to be studied " Galgali said.
--IANS
qn/vd/vm
