By Thomas Scaria,

Mangaluru, Dec 21, 2021: The Karnataka cabinet led by Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai has approved the draft of the Anti-Conversion bill.

The cabinet meeting was held at Belagavi (formerly Belgaum) on December 20, just five days ahead of Christmas.

The government led by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been pressing for the bill despite protests from the Christian leaders, including Catholic bishops, in the southern Indian state.

The bill will be placed in the state Legislative Assembly after the Christmas, which will be opposed by the Congress and Janata Dal (JD).

Father Faustine Lobo, the spokesperson of the Karnataka Regional Bishops’ Council, told Matters India that BJP does not have a majority in the Legislative Council, the upper house in the assembly, that too has to approve the bill.

In the recent elections to the legislative council BJP did not win an absolute majority, but it can claim majority if it wins over an independent candidate. “But they will be allowed to vote only after January 26,” Father Lobo added.

“It is unfortunate that Basavaraj Bommai is leaning to the Sangh Parivar groups and ignoring the minorities in the state,” the priest lamented.

The Sangh Parivar has been described with monikers spanning the spectrum from “patriotic Hindus” and “Hindu nationalist.” It is the umbrella for scores of affiliates of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (National Volunteers Corps) that strive to establish a Hindu nation in India.

If enacted, the bill titled as Karnataka Right to Freedom of Religious Bill, 2021 will prohibit conversion from one religion to another religion by “misrepresentation, force, fraud, undue influence, coercion, allurement or marriage.”

The bill says that any aggrieved person, parents, brother, sister or any other person related by blood, marriage or adoption can file first information report against such an act.

Any violators can be awarded imprisonment from 3 years to 10 years, and fine ranges from 25,000 to 1 million rupees.

Meanwhile, prior to putting up the bill for the cabinet’s approval, Bommai addressed an RSS meeting at Belagavi and reasserted his commitment to enact the anti-conversion law in Karnataka.

“We will not allow conversion of the helpless people in Karnataka,” said Bommai, adding, “Innocent people are being converted across the state. They are lured by money and financial assistance.”