Forced conversions? No!

Cong leader Ivan D’Souza: Anti-conversion bill will help fringe elements

Hameed Ashraf | NT

Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Sunday hinted that the draft of the anti-conversion bill would be approved by the state cabinet and is likely to be introduced in the winter session of the Assembly in Belagavi. The cabinet is expected to meet during the Belagavi assembly session, which begins on December 13. However Bommai also said that the proposed Bill is not intended to target any particular community.

Recently, a Christian delegation led by well-known entrepreneur and philanthropist Ronald Colaco, former MLA JR Lobo, former MLC Ivan D’Souza and local Congress president Radhakrishna, met CM Bommai and appealed to him not to introduce the anti-conversion bill. Ivan D’Souza speaks to News Trail on the meeting.

What was the meeting about and what was discussed with the CM?

We discussed various issues faced by the Christian community across the state. The demographic ratio of our community has reduced in the past 10 years. Despite this, there is propaganda that Christians are enticing people of other religions and getting them converted to Christianity. This is not right. We should be allowed to live in a dignified manner in society. We submitted an appeal to stop the introduction of the anticonversion bill.

How do you view the draft of the anti-conversion bill? Is it being done to prevent forcible conversion or is it interference in the church’s affairs?

In Karnataka, a big bogey has been raised about forceful conversions in the last few months. So far I have not been able to ascertain where this information is coming from and how forceful these conversions are. I don’t think there is any truth in it. If at all there are such incidents, the police and intelligence wing have their own means to find the truth instead of blacklisting the whole community and accusing it of mass-conversions.

This bill is not going to bring any credit to anyone except fringe elements who are taking the law into their own hands thinking they can do whatever they want. Immoral activities are taking place after Bommai took over.

One thing worth noting is that the government is keeping mum on atrocities committed against minorities. There is no direction to the police nor is the government ready to talk about the violence these groups are carrying out.

During our meeting with the CM, we asked him about this. We asked him if he was supporting anti-social elements. Sticking to his earlier remarks, he replied that these are actions and reactions and the outcome of particular situations. He alleged that there is coercion at some places and this is the effect. But where is the coercion? Who is converting whom? Where is the data coming from? He had no clue or proper answer to that. It is because of this behaviour and utterances of the government that the attacks are being tolerated. It is said that the anti-conversion bill may be presented in the winter session and the day after our meeting, Bommai had hinted that the bill will be cleared in the cabinet meeting. It is evident that he is under pressure to pass the bill.

Sometime back, Hosadurga BJP MLA Golihatti Shekhar had claimed that 15,000- 20,000 religion conversions to Christianity have taken place in his constituency alone. How do you see this?

I’m not very sure about it. As per Article 25 of the Constitution, we can profess and propagate our religion. And Gollihatti is making this accusation against his own family. Nobody can just go and force someone to change his or her religion. And there are no reports of any forceful conversion of anyone belonging to any religion to Christianity.

In India we have peace among all religious communities whether it is Hinduism, Islam or any other religion. Many of us celebrate Deepavali as the festival of lights just like our non-Christian brothers and sisters visit our churches. Can we call this conversion? Besides, knowing about another religion, studying it or visiting their place of worship and keeping their holy books, doesn’t really mean someone has changed his religion.

On October 19, there was an attack on a Christian prayer hall in Hubballi. Earlier there was another on September 10.

It is very embarrassing when someone forcefully enters another religious place and attacks people who are there to pray. Hubballi is a smart city and it is scary to think that something like this has happened there. There is no doubt that such incidents may happen in other cities as well if the authorities nurture antisocial elements. The state government should intervene and control such groups. There have been attacks on churches, priests, pastors and other Christians. All this will have a negative impact on society and t