My recent reports on “ghar wapsi” in Haryana and Rajasthan have, again, got me wondering about the role (or lack of it) of Hindu temples in propagation of Hindu faith. Pls note that I am talking here about private temples in villages, not the big govt-run ones.

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All those who I spoke to, who did “ghar wapsi”, told me they had wanted to do it all these years but “did not get guidance or support”. Eventually, members of Hindu orgs like Hindu Yuva Vahini, Arya Samaj or local outfits stepped in to propose a public havan + janeu ceremony

Temple merely served as a congregation space. In some cases, not even that.
In Aasan Kalan, the youth who arranged it, told me that some Khatris (he called them Punjabi Brahmins) even visited him to object to the event +

They argued that Hindu is born not made, to which this guy argued back that if Hindu can become Muslim, why can’t Muslim become Hindu. That is how the debate was settled.
In my earlier reports on this phenomenon of “ghar wapsi”, I wrote how even Muslims complained that +

if one wants to become a Muslim, all that he/she has to do is visit the nearest mosque. Same holds true for churches. But your nearest temple is most likely to draw a blank if you visited with an intention to become Hindu.

A Pakistani Hindu refugee, who came due to post-Babri violence in Pak, told me he felt disappointed when he found that his son was learning nothing about Hindu religion by going to temple. He said he thought India is a Hindu country so his son would learn about “deen” here

Should propagation of Hindu faith or facilitating people to become Hindus (I am not talking about aggressive evangelisation) not a role temples should play?