Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday said mass conversion from one religion to another was a matter of concern and it needed to be checked, reported The Indian Express.

“If you are Hindu be Hindu, Muslim be Muslim, Christian be Christian,” Singh said at an event organised by a Christian organisation in Delhi. “Why do you want to convert the whole world?...If someone accepts a religion on their own, there should not be objections,” ANI quoted him as saying.

The minister said he supported the freedom to choose one’s religion, but a debate was needed before converting to another religion. “I have never discriminated on the basis of caste, creed and religion,” he said. “Whether we get votes or not, whether we form the government or not, we will never discriminate among people. This is what our prime minister feels.”

Singh said in countries like the United States and the United Kingdom, a minority community demands anti-conversion laws. “Here the majority community asks for it, it’s a matter of concern.”

Singh claimed there were attempts to instil fear among people, but the Bharatiya Janata Party wanted to run the country with a sense of confidence among people. “Nobody should feel alienated. This will be our effort,” he said.

The home minister said there had been attempts to defame the government led by the National Democratic Alliance through instances of stone-pelting at churches, reported DNA. “But it [stone pelting] started a month before the Assembly elections and stopped a month after that,” he said. “Whose conspiracy is that?”