Mumbai: Following a controversy over the termination of Khar Gymkhana membership of Jemimah Rodrigues, Bajrang Dal has now warned management of Millennium Club, Juhu, against allowing evangelical activities in the club every Saturday and Sunday.
Members of a Protestant Christian denomination, including Siddharth Khosa, son of former MLA Baldev Khosa, were conducting prayers in a hall of the club for more than a year on Sundays.Bajrang Dal, citing the Khar Gymkhana issue, warned that it would carry out a demonstration at the club and that law-and-order consequences would be the responsibility of the management of the club.
The club management claimed the issue was resolved amicably and the prayer meetings would not be held henceforth.
Siddharth Khosa is an aspirant for a Congress ticket from Versova assembly constituency for the forthcoming elections.
Gautam Ravariya, co-convenor of Bajrang Dal Konkan Chapter, said, "There are several places in the city where halls are booked, and on the pretext of conducting prayer meetings, they carry out conversion activities. These meetings are conducted regularly, and conversions happen over a period due to various allurements. We want to stop conversions in this manner. We spoke to the MD of the club who said he was not aware of such activity. We told the club to stop this activity. There are many places of worship for members of all religions in the city; they must hold prayer meetings there."
Rajiv Anand, managing director of Millennium Club, said, "Every Sunday morning, they used to come and conduct their prayers peacefully. We did not notice any suspicious activity. However, since we are an entertainment and sports club, we don't want any religious controversy. We don't want any kind of stress to the women and children who visit the club for various purposes. Khosa has agreed not to conduct meetings, and the issue has been resolved amicably."
Siddharth Khosa said, "There was a small misunderstanding, and somebody has misinformed that conversion activities are conducted during prayer meets. A controversy has been created unnecessarily. We go to various places for prayers and are not forcing anybody to adopt religion... the misunderstanding has been resolved amicably."