Anti-conversion bill passed, BJP has its way

Bill was passed by voice vote amid protest by Congress, silence from JD(S), and it will now go to the Legislative Council for approval.

Shyam Sundar Vattam | NT

Belagavi: The contentious ‘Karnataka Protection of Right to Freedom of Religion Bill, 2021,’ popularly known as the ‘Anticonversion’ bill, which has led to a divide between the BJP government and the Christian community, was passed in the Legislative Assembly amidst a dharna by Congress lawmakers who trooped into the well of the house to register their protest.

The bill was passed by a voice vote and even as ruling BJP members celebrated, opposition Congress MLAS raised anti-government slogans while the Janata Dal (Secular) members remained neutral. The bill will go to the Council for approval.

The debate on the bill lasted for almost six and a half hours with CM Basavaraj Bommai and Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister J.C.Madhuswamy countering the points raised by Congress members.

Initiating the debate, Home Minister Araga Jnanendra said Karnataka is the ninth state to have such a bill to check conversion under compulsion and due to sops such as money, jobs and other allurements. The CM has already clarified that the bill was introduced to check forced conversion of dalits, oppressed classes and poor families which is a menace not only in Karnataka but in other parts of the country as well.

Bommai said the bill gives protection to dalits, aged and physically challenged who would have otherwise been converted by promising them allurements. Once they convert to another religion, the facilities being given to them would automatically stop and they would qualify for the benefits given to those of the converted religion. The bill will prevent gullible people from getting converted just for the sake of money, he added.

Lashing out at the bill, Opposition Leader Siddaramaiah said there was a lot of difference between the old draft and the latest draft introduced by the incumbent government. He asserted that in the earlier draft, the word ‘marriage’ was not there but had been included in the new draft. He alleged that the draft was a replica of the bill adopted by Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh and this has given room to suspicion that some ‘unseen forces’ were behind its preparation.

Conversions have been going on in the country for many centuries and there had been instances of great scholars, poets and kings getting converted to Buddhism from Hinduism. The 12th century reformer, Basaveshwara was born in a Brahmin family but founded the Lingayat religion. The father of the Indian Constitution, Dr B.R. Ambedkar too embraced Buddhism with lakhs of followers. The Congress leader accused the BJP government of spreading canards that the population of Hindus is declining and the population of Christians is increasing. However, according to the general survey held in 2001 and 2011, Hindu population has gone up from 83.86 per cent in 2001 to 84 per cent in 2011 while the population of Muslims has increased from 12.23 per cent to 12.92 per cent. The Christian population on the other hand, has declined to 1.87 per cent from 1.91 per cent, he said. Pic for representation