Hindu villagers targeted and offered inducements for religious conversion by Christian missionaries in Narmada district of Gujarat

Case ID : a6cacdc | Location : Narmada, Gujarat, India | Date of Incident : Sun, 21 December, 2025

Case ID : a6cacdc

Narmada, Gujarat, India

21 December, 2025

Hindu villagers targeted and offered inducements for religious conversion by Christian missionaries in Narmada district of Gujarat

Predatory Proselytisation

Proselytisation by grooming, brainwashing, manipulation or subtle indoctrination

Pattern of targeting Hindus

Conversion/ attempts to convert by inducement

Case Summary

In the Narmada district of Gujarat, over 150 tribal Hindu villagers were targeted and offered inducements for religious conversion by Christian missionaries. According to Hindu organisations, members of the tribal Hindu community in the rural regions of Dediapada, Sagbara and Chikda talukas were influenced and encouraged to abandon their ancestral Hindu faith and adopt Christianity through sustained missionary activities. According to reports, the incident came to light after Hindu saints, leaders of the Rashtriya Adivasi Manch and representatives of the National Tribal Forum submitted a petition to the Dediapada Prant Officer, seeking immediate administrative intervention to stop illegal religious conversion activities in tribal regions, particularly during the Christmas period. The petition stated that churches were being constructed in rural areas and that Christian religious programmes were being organised despite the existence of an anti-conversion law in Gujarat. Sonji Vasava, the organisation minister of the Rashtriya Adivasi Manch for Gujarat, stated that pastors were actively converting members of the tribal Hindu community through Christian religious practices and various inducements. He pointed out that many conversions were taking place without full awareness and in violation of legal provisions. The petition also objected to the organisation of Christmas-related religious programmes in areas described as having an unauthorised Christian religious presence and warned that a large-scale agitation would be launched if the conversion activities were not stopped. Subsequently, around 150 tribal individuals from Dediapada, Sagbara and Chikda talukas, who had earlier converted to Christianity, returned to Hinduism through a “Ghar Wapsi” programme held on 22 December 2025 in Narmada district. The event was organised by the Rashtriya Adivasi Manch, Dharm Jagaran and Dharm Prasar groups, along with Hindu saints and local devotees. Sonji Vasava stated that many of the tribal individuals later realised they had been misled by missionaries and pastors and felt that they had taken the wrong decision. After counselling and religious guidance, they chose to return to their original Hindu faith. The reconversion took place after earlier warnings to the administration regarding large-scale conversions in the region.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

This case has been documented under the primary category: Predatory Proselytisation. Under this, the secondary category selected is: Proselytisation by grooming, brainwashing, manipulation or subtle indoctrination. Religious brainwashing essentially means the often subtle and forcible indoctrination to induce someone to give up their religious beliefs to accept contrasting regimented ideas. Religious grooming or brainwashing also involves propaganda and manipulation. It involves the systematic effort, driven by religious malice and indoctrination, to persuade “non-believers’ to accept allegiance, command, or doctrine to and of a contrasting faith. Cases of such grooming or brainwashing are far more nuanced than direct threats, coercion, inducement and violence. In such cases, it is often seen that there is repeated, subtle and continual manipulation of the victim to induce disaffection towards their own faith and acceptance of the contrasting faith of the perpetrator. While subtle indoctrination is widely acknowledged as predatory, an element which is often understated in such conversions or the attempts of such conversion is the role of loyalty and trust which might develop between the perpetrator and the victim. Fiduciary relationships are often abused to affect such religious conversion. For example, an educator transmitting religious doctrine of a competing faith to a Hindu student. The Hindu student is likely to accept what the teacher is transmitting owing to existence of the fiduciary relationship. The exploitation of the fiduciary relationship to religiously indoctrinate victims would also be included in this category. Since the underlying animosity towards the victim’s faith forms the basis of predatory proselytization, such cases are considered religiously motivated hate crimes. The other sub-category selected is- Conversion/attempts to convert by inducement. Predatory Proselytisation is not just limited to threat, harassment, force and violence, but it also has contours of stealth. In several cases, the Hindu victim is exploited to convert, with non-Hindus taking advantage of their poverty. In such cases, the Hindu victim who is suffering financially is offered monetary benefits, including lucrative offers for jobs, health treatment, education, etc, to induce the victim into changing his/her religion. In such cases, the religious identity of the victim and the aim to disenfranchise him from his faith form the heart of the crime. Also, taking advantage of and exploiting an individual’s economic vulnerabilities is widely acknowledged as exploitation, forms of which are often penalised by law. Such cases therefore are considered religiously motivated hate crimes since the victim’s religious identity forms the very heart of the crime itself. This case qualified as a hate crime because tribal Hindu villagers were targeted and offered inducements for religious conversion by Christian missionaries. The incident did not occur in isolation but formed part of a wider and recurring pattern observed across Gujarat, where organised missionary activities have increasingly targeted tribal Hindus living in remote and economically marginalised areas. For purposes of religious conversion, Christian missionaries often focus on exploiting socio-economic vulnerability, emotional distress, and social isolation, which are common characteristics of tribal populations in Gujarat and other regions. Vulnerable Hindus are offered inducements and assurances framed as assistance or relief, which in practice are conditional upon abandoning their faith and accepting Christianity. These incentives are not extended as unconditional welfare or charity but are deliberately linked to conversion, thereby weaponising poverty, illness, and hardship against a specific religious group. Such conduct strips the victims of genuine religious choice and transforms conversion into a coercive process rooted in religious bias. They single out Hindus and systematically encourage them to abandon their deities, temples, and traditional practices, so as to make them more susceptible to conversion. By systematically discouraging Hindu worship and portraying Hindu traditions in a negative light, the missionaries sought to erode the victims’ faith, dignity, and cultural identity. This sustained effort reflected clear hostility towards Hinduism and an intent to dismantle the religious foundations of the targeted community. This reflects a broader, recurring pattern of religiously motivated targeting of Hindus, particularly tribal communities, for the purpose of forced or induced religious conversion by the Christian missionaries. The Christian faith, by its very theological foundations, places a strong emphasis on proselytisation. In pursuit of conversion objectives, Christian evangelists often employ unethical means, ranging from psychological pressure and misinformation to inducements such as money or jobs. In such cases, Christian missionary groups often target and brainwash socially and economically vulnerable Hindus to further their agenda of religious conversions. This form of coercion strips Hindus of their agency and dignity and enforces forced conversions. These are not random or isolated incidents, but rather premeditated efforts to undermine the Hindu faith, persuade Hindus to discard their own faith, and convert to Christianity. Such acts are deeply rooted in religious animosity towards Hindu victims, and thus amount to a clear instance of a religiously motivated crime. This is not the first time that illegal conversions targeting large groups of Hindus have occurred in Gujarat. The Hinduphobia Tracker has previously recorded several instances of such forced conversions. For example, in December 2025, in Gadina village, Dharampur, Gujarat, Hindu villagers were lured with inducements for religious conversion by Christian missionaries. The missionaries also purportedly indoctrinated Hindus against Hindu deities, persuading them to abandon Hindu worship. Similarly, in December 2025, in Limjar village, Vansda taluka, Navsari district, Gujarat, tribal Hindu villagers were targeted and indoctrinated with religious texts and offered inducements for religious conversion by Christian missionaries. Given this case, along with past instances of forced Christian conversions of Hindus, demonstrates a pattern of deliberate anti-Hindu hate crimes rather than isolated incidents. Therefore, this case is added to the hate crime database of the tracker. Disclaimer: The Hinduphobia Tracker records incident dates based on when the crime occurs, not when it is reported by media sources. In the current case, media reports do not specify the exact date on which the victims' ordeal began. The reports do indicate that the Hindu individuals returned to Hinduism through a Ghar Wapsi on 22 December 2025; therefore, this date is used as the indicative incident date for documentation purposes. The report also mentions that more than 150 tribal Hindus were forcibly converted to Christianity, but does not provide an exact victim count. For documentation purposes and to maintain consistency in our records, a conservative estimate of 150 victims is used as the victim count.