Recently the TamilNadu government has brought a bill prohibiting religious  conversion. This move could be aimed at gaining political mileage or with an  earnest interest to protect Hinduism. This article is not concerned about the  real motive behind this. The real motive of this article is to understand the  definition of 'religion' in the first place and having understood this with the historical perspective, let us look at the necessity or non-necessity for such a bill.

When the mankind was turning into a civilized species, it put in place few norms only to reduce anarchy and atrocity. It wanted to give equal chance for everyone to lead their life with a justified existence. As part of civilization, religion came into existence. Religion is mainly to show the righteous path for human beings to lead a proper life. As this author understands, the concept or notion of religion itself is to bring in equality and justice amongst and for one and all. The Vedas, Puranas, Upanishads, and Epics came into existence just to drive home the morals that the religion suggested us to follow in life. Unfortunately these puranas and epics, and the embodiments of morals preached in those texts became the real substance of the religion. This is not only true for Hinduism but true for all religions.

More than the preaching, the symbolic substances, the preachers, and the places of worship became the core substance of a religion and in this evolutionary process, the actual substance of a religion was lost.

 For many who belong to my generation, it may be a surprise to know that Hindu religion does not support the caste system. In fact, many would make the following rhetoric - that Hindu religion does not thrust upon any regimented practices or symbolisms as it allowed a space for even those who does not believe in the existence of God. The Manu Dharma, which is cited quite often to justify the caste system, is a document that got included to the Hindu religion. It alone is not Hindu religion. Hinduism always focused on the "way of life" rather than the rituals or symbolism. In fact this is the precise reason why we have so many Gods in Hindu religion whereas the other religions do not have multitude of Gods. In fact Hinduism does not support the concept of "one God", it left the imagination of the followers to identify their own
Gods.

That is the reason we worship Lord Shiva, apart from the four forms of Pancha  Bhoothas, in the form of ether /space also i.e. "without a shape and form". If one agrees with the above aspects of Hinduism, one can easily understand the crux of Hinduism. It is nothing but a framework to guide us in the path of life. The pluralism is the essence of Hinduism. One can even argue that Hinduism is actually an 'ism" and not really a 'religion', If such is the freedom and boundariless space offered by Hinduism, why is that many of our country men in the past and now want to embrace other religions. It is not merely for the material benefits. Some of our brethren really suffocate by being Hindus. They undergo insults and deprivation of many sorts. We should not overlook this. They are treated as less-fortunates within the Hindu religion. When Rama adopts Guha as one of his brothers we appreciate Ram but fail to follow his suit. The caste system that crept into Hindu religion distorted Hinduism to a large extent. The recent definitions for Hindu religion  offered by Kanchi Sankaracharya and Karunanidhi vouch for one fact that there is a total confusion on the concept of Hinduism itself. It is a pity and even ridiculous that saints like Kanchi Sankaracharya have to organize processions and meetings to save Hindu religion by extending support to the anticonversion bill.

The recent bill on anticonversion should help us to introspect and social scientists should help in this process. All sections of our society should be made aware of the time sketch of evolution of Hinduism. There should be a critical discussion on the events that led to the division within those who followed Hinduism as a religion and brought in the unwanted caste systems within the Hindu religion. Also, the evils of the caste system should be analyzed and assessed. The ways to bring in remedy for those evils should be discussed in our society with out fear or favour. These remedies should be implemented to bring back the egalitarianism that the Hinduism preached in the first place. There is nothing called a birth right to enjoy a special status within a society. There should be a complete confidence in the community that one belongs to, be it a religion, State or a Country. Unless this confidence is there in everyone of us, we would not survive as an entity. Erosions and distortion would continue to take place irrespective of the laws and any form of constraints. Unless equality is brought back within Hindu religion, laws can not prevent conversions. Religion is the personal freedom or individual right of a citizen. How can the  government regulate this individual freedom? Legal experts should clarify on this question. If anticonverison law alone is the saviour of Hindu religion, it is a pity and all of us should keep our heads down with shame.

Let me leave you with a question if you do not agree with the  cause ( non-egalitarianism) that I identified for the religious conversion (I know that there is no formal way to get converted to Hindu religion but still  my question has a hidden message)- "why is that there are no conversions from other religions to Hindu Religion? Why is that this always happens in one  direction?"