"Forced conversions impossible" says Vatican

The Vatican on Monday commenting on the scaling accusations against Christian conversions said, "It was impossible to forcibly convert anyone to another religion."

"There can be no coercion in religion: no one can be forced to believe, neither can anyone who wishes to believe be prevented from doing so," Cardinal Jean–Louis Tauran, who heads the Pontifical Council for Inter religious Dialogue, said in a message to Hindus for Diwali, the festival of lights.

The appeal by Vatican is believed to have come as a response to the Hindu radicals’ vehement attacks against Christian missionaries and institutions in the country.

Tauran further said that, the Church had been faithful to the teaching on freedom of belief.

He urged both Hindus and Christians to focus on educating their communities, warning that faithful could easily be misled by deceitful and false propaganda.

Meanwhile, Vatican urging religious tolerance, sent its greeting for the Diwali which is also known as the Festival of Lights commemorated by many Hindus – some 890 million of whom live in India.

"Dear Hindu Friends...I sincerely hope that your search for the Divine, symbolized through the celebration of Diwali, will help you overcome darkness with light, untruth with truth and evil with goodness," Tauran wrote.

Recently the anti–conversion laws been instroduced in many states by the Hindu nationalists has flared up tensions between the two groups.

Christian groups say these laws are aimed at curbing religious freedom and are against the Indian Constitution.