DC discusses BJP’s suggestion to make proselytisation illegal
Members of a Hindu outfit perform a ceremony to convert Muslim families in Agra. (Photo: PTI)
Hyderabad: DC discusses BJP’s suggestion to make proselytisation illegal with Venkaiah Naidu, Union Parliamentary Affairs minister and senior BJP leader and Kancha Ilaiah, Director, Centre for the Study of Social Exclusion and Inclusive Policy, MANUU.
Constitution bars forced conversions:
Religion is the way of worship and belief. Nobody should have any objection if an individual voluntarily changes his or her religion. But if it is by allurement, then that should be stopped.
Solemn assurances were given in the Constituent Assembly that states would make a law to prohibit religious conversions brought about by coercion, fraud or undue influence. Non-implementation of these assurances constitutes a great betrayal of the country.
The enactment of such a law by Parliament will fulfil the assurances given in the Constituent Assembly that conversions brought about in certain circumstances must be legally prohibited.
Both the Union and the states have the power to make a law in this regard. Many states passed anti-conversion laws when the Congress was in power. The party is responsible for anti-conversion laws in MP, Chhattisgarh and Himachal Pradesh.
The Congress government in Himachal Pradesh moved the Anti-Conversion Bill in the Assembly in December, 2006. It got the Governor’s assent in 2007. The Rajasthan Assembly passed a fresh Anti-Conversion Bill in 2008. This awaits the Governor’s assent.
These are also in line with the Supreme Court judgements which have upheld anti-conversion laws. A five-judge bench of the SC upheld the anti-conversion laws enacted by MP and Odisha and said these laws were “meant to avoid disturbances to the public order by prohibiting conversion from one religion to another in a manner reprehensible to the conscience of the community.”
It said what Article 25(1) grants to a citizen “is not the right to convert another person to one’s own religion, but to transmit or spread one’s religion by an exposition of its tenets.”
The Justice Niyogi Committee, constituted by the Congress in Madhya Pradesh, made the following recommendations decades ago: “Those missionaries whose primary object is proselytisation, should be asked to withdraw and the large influx of foreign missionaries should be checked; the use of medical and other professional services as a direct means of making conversions should be prohibited by law.”
It is bad enough that religious conversions are conducted in a systematic manner through inducements and coercive pressure. But such activities acquire an extra ominous edge when they are facilitated by foreign-funded organisations, ostensibly under the garb of social service for the poor and underprivileged families in society.
We respect the freedom of faith as a fundamental right of every citizen. I myself have great respect for Christianity and count many Christians among my good friends. However, freedom of faith cannot be allowed to become a licence for a sustained foreign-funded campaign for proselytisation. Tribals, scheduled castes and the poor belonging to other classes seem to be the target of the proselytisers.
India will remain secular as long as it is Hindu majority. See what is happening in Pakistan and Bangladesh, which were once part of India, where secularism now is a myth.
Let there be a debate about the need for anti-conversion laws. Leave the religion to individuals. Let no political party and state get involved in it. And let no politician use minorities as vote banks. In a federal system, the states can make laws and take action for breach of law. M. Venkaiah Naidu, Union Parliamentary Affairs minister and senior BJP leader.
BJP deviating from Modi’s poll promise:
After Narendra Modi came to power, several wings of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh started working against the very agenda that Mr Modi came to power with.
Immediately after the swearing-in ceremony, one of his younger ministers, Mr Jitendra Singh, from the PMO raised the contentious issue of Article 370. Some time later, a young Muslim in Pune was killed by the rightwing elements. This was followed by the ‘Love Jihad’ bogey.
Meanwhile, teaching Vedic mathematics, culture, Sanskrit in schools was proposed by Smriti Irani, the HRD minister herself. This was followed by Sadhvi Niranjana Jyoti’s declaration: “All those who are not Ram's children are illegitimate children.”
Then came former leader of the Opposition Sushma Swaraj’s demand that the Bhagavad Gita be declared a national holy book. All this was followed by a much more organised effort of converting very poor Muslims of Uttar Pradesh into so called Hinduism, with an open incentive of ration cards.
These things have become issues in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha debates. The BJP leaders themselves sent off Mr Modi’s agenda of “Sabka saath, sabka vikas” for a Ganga snan. Unfortunately, that Ganga is not clean at all.
All these years, the BJP, RSS and the VHP leaders have been shouting from the roof-tops that Christians and Muslims were converting Dalits and tribals, luring them with attractive incentives.
But now they have been caught red-handed on TV, with the converted Muslims openly saying that they were told that they would be given ration cards at a meeting. “Instead they converted us at a fireplace asking us to put some ghee in the fire and applying a tilak on our forehead.”
This conversion issue has rocked Parliament. Strangely enough, Venkaiah Naidu, the minister of parliamentary affairs, wants an anti-conversion law to stop his own people from converting Muslims to Hinduism.
Assuming that they were willing to be converted on their own, do the Hindu converters make them sit with the Brahmin priests and eat their food as brothers of same religion? Do they allow the children of the converted Muslims to become the priests of the Ram temple in Ayodhya or Krishna temple in Mathura or put them in Sanskrit gurukulas? Do they create a casteless community of Hindus?
Hinduism is not only a religion of castes, but also of multi-idol worshippers. Historically, people embraced non-idol worshipping religions with one book, one God, or only one idol like Buddha, and conversion made some sense.
In UP, which idol should the converted Muslims worship? Does the BJP government at the Centre or in states where it is in power give them reservations, as they are converted Hindus now? What caste certificate would they get?
The world knows the economic status of those who got converted at Agra. Assuming that they gave up Islam, reading of Quran, praying to Allah and going to the Masjid… where would they be sent now? What book should they read? Should they read the Rig Veda or the Gita?
They should understand that they cannot convert from religions that have one book and God to stay in the so-called Hindu religion, until and unless they change the structure of that religion. Kancha Ilaiah, Director, Centre for the Study of Social Exclusion and Inclusive Policy, MANUU
( Source : dc correspondent )
Next Story
