By K P Sasi
Bengaluru, Dec 22, 2021: Members of more than 40 organizations came to the streets of Bengaluru to protest against a bill passed by the Karnataka assembly to regulate religious convention in the southern Indian state.
The December 21 rally demanded the withdrawal of “the Karnataka Protection of Right to Freedom of Religion Bill 2021” that the rally organizers described as anti-people and unconstitutional.
The bill tramples upon the constitutionally guaranteed rights to freedom of religion, privacy and dignity, they said.
Speaking at the protest, constitutional law expert Arvind Narrain said that the Supreme Court has recognized that individuals have the freedom to dress the way they want, eat what they want and practice the faith they want. The bill by seeking to target conversions interferes with both the human right to dignity and the freedom to practice the faith of their choice.
Gowramma of Janwadi Mahila Sanghatan stated that Karnataka was facing dark days and that the bill is not just an attack on religion but an attack on all women. The bill presumes that women and individuals from Dalit and SC communities do not have the agency to decide the religion they want to belong to. Demanding that the state withdraw the bill, she asked that the government to pay more attention to problems of nutrition, unemployment and rising violence against women.
Archbishop Peter Machado of Bangalore urged the state to reconsider the bill and withdraw the bill, which he said is harmful to not only Christians but also many other communities. He pointed out that many laws exist already to prevent forced conversions. The Christian community has always served the country and its poor and forced conversions are a mortal sin for us, he added.
Yousuf Kunhi, Jamaat-e-Islami, Karnataka chapter, directly addressing the legislators of the Lingayat community, stated that by supporting the bill, they would be going against the teaching of their founder Basavanna. He also asked the supporters of the bill in the Assembly to resign because they won the elections on the basis of the Constitution and promised development, progress and communal harmony. If they cannot deliver on these promises, they have no right to continue in office, he asserted.
C S Dwarkanath, former chairperson of the State Backward Classes Commission, asked on what basis was the law being formulated without any discussions with experts and lawyers. Citing Ambedkar’s stance on conversion, he said that the constitution-maker had declared that people should not be born into a religion but should be allowed to choose their faith. It is also the inherent discrimination and the absence of fraternity within Hindu religion that prompts people to convert, he pointed out.
Clifton D’Rozario from All India Lawyers Association for Justice stated that this is a fascist attack on minorities, women and the oppressed in our society. Pointing to the Chief Minister B S Bommai attending an event organized by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal in the middle of the assembly session, he said that the CM had called conversion a big disease, the government was tackling it through such laws but the VHP and Bajrang Dal should start a state wide campaign about this. All this highlights the ways in which the fascist political project is being implemented through the law.
Ruth Manorama of Women’s Voice highlighted her own Dalit Christian identity and said that as an activist with 40 years of experience working with slum residents, Dalits and women and the capacity to mobilize lakhs of people, she had not converted even one individual. Arguing that the bill is anti-Christian, anti-Muslim, anti-Buddhist, she said that as citizens we believe in secularism and will protect it till our death.