By Matters India Reporter

New Delhi, Feb 13, 2022: Thousands of people cutting across religions have demanded the repeal of all anti-conversion laws in India.

The demand comes ahead of February 14 when the Karnataka government plans to table the Anti-Conversion Bill in the state’s Upper House.

Prominent signatories of the petition to the Indian president of India included among others Admiral L Ramdas, former Chief of Naval Staff of the Indian Navy, Mallika Sarabhai, accomplished dancer and choreographer, Medha Patkar, social activist, Anand Patwardhan, film Maker and Mani Shankar Aiyar, former federal minister.

They assert the new anti-conversion law is unnecessary, since the Indian Constitution has enough provisions to curtail fraudulent religious conversions. `Wherever the anti-conversion law, ironically officially called Freedom of Religion Act, was passed, it became a justification for the persecution of the minorities and other marginalized identities” the petitioners explain.

They also say the attacks on the minorities has grown sharply in recent years since this law was used as a weapon targeting the dignity of Christians and Muslims particularly belonging to Adivasis, Dalits and women.

The petition urged people to join the campaign to defend the values enshrined in the Indian Constitution and protect human rights of the minorities and other marginalized sections in India.

The petition was initiated by the National Solidarity Forum, a network of groups and individuals who started acting in response to the Kandhamal Genocide on the Adivasi and Dalit Christians during 2007 and 2008. Kandhamal is a district in the eastern Indian state of Odisha.

The petition also noted scattered and sporadic sub-radar attacks on Christian communities in India in the past few years. “Pretext made is that Christian missionaries are converting by force, fraud, coercion or allurement.”

Citing the Indian census, the petition points out that Christian population declined from 2.6 percent in 1971 to 2.3 percent in 2011. “These Anti- Conversion Laws, generally called freedom of religion laws, are attempts to intimidate the Christian Community and the planned law in Karnataka is on the same lines,’ says Ram Puniyani, the forum convener.

Supporting the petition, Margaret Alva, a former governor of Goa, Gujarat and Uttarakhand, commended the National Solidarity Forum’s attempts to collect signatures from all religions and backgrounds to dissuade the government from passing the Karnataka anti-conversion bill. “I request you to sign this appeal to withdraw the anti-Christian bill and such laws in other states of the country,” she urged people.

John Dayal, senior journalist, human rights activist and a forum founder, says the anti-conversion laws do not affect the Christians alone, but “meant for further persecution on the Muslims, Dalits, Adivasis and women.” These laws violate the basic tenets of the Indian Constitution and India’s secular heritage, he asserts.

Vidya Dinkar, human rights activist and a core team member of the forum, says the anti-conversion law disrespects women and places restrictions for a woman to choose her partner. “It is conceived with a notion that women in India are not in a position to think on their own and act on their own. This law is highly patriarchal. It is not acceptable,” she added.

Another woman activist, Brinelle D’Souza, Centre for Health and Mental Health, School of Social Work, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, says the anti-conversion law “discriminates against certain religions. It is a violation of the principle enshrined in the Indian Constitution that all religions are equal. It is meant to strengthen religious conflicts and majoritarian nationalism in India. Moreover, it infantilizes the poor and gives the State power over matters that are deeply personal.”

The forum leaders say thousands of people have already responded to the petition and more endorsements are pouring in.

5 Comments

  1. Will the Christian community also take up the “hijab row”, oppose the RSS-driven BJP government/leaders and ask them to honour the Indian Constitution? Christians need to come out of their “narrow, small world” and speak for every citizen and minority community that is facing injustice today.

  2. Could someone explain to me why Christians want to convert Hindus when the faith’s brand ambassador, Jesus Christ, was categerical in his instructions to his disciples (St Paul was not one of them) to take his message to the lost sheep of Israel, meaning the Jews of then times who got themselves scattered out of Israel following Roman invasion? Jesus was quite categorical about his mission – he came for the chosen people meaning the Jews. Jesus also claimed that his message id not of his own but given to him by his Father Could St Paul override Jesus and Father then on the basis of his alleged visitation from Jesus? What then is the worth of Jesus and Father if people could concot such claims and undo Jesus. Jesus’ other disciples were alive then and he had opened their minds to scriptures. It is unexplainable why then Jesus passed over his original disciples and went over to a stranger, Paul who came with the idea of “Jesus for gentiles too”. Rest is history.

    There is another report in Matters India that Dalits who became Christians are demanding equal treatment from the Church and end of all kind of discrimination. If that is the state of affairs of those who had become Christians then why this clamour for creation of more such miserable souls.

    I am of the opinion that we Christians must exist out of proseylitation which apparently the Pope also does not want. He is alleged to have called it “solemn nonsense”. We Christians must strive for quality and not quantity and improve the lot of people who are Christians. Don’t politicalise our faith. Christians’ future in India lies in avoiding confrontationalist mentality all because because some community leaders can’t stomach the present dispensation in Delhi.

  3. I found this information in the website : Hope this will not ignite controversy.

    India’s Supreme Court Affirms Religious Freedom and Rejects Ban on Religious Conversions

    04/12/2021 India (International Christian Concern) – Last week, the Supreme Court of India affirmed the religious freedom rights of Indian citizens in rejecting a petition calling for a nationwide law against religious conversions. In making its decision, the court stated that persons above the age of 18 in India are free to choose the religion of their choice.
    The petition, brought to the Supreme Court in the form of public interest litigation, was filed by Ashwini Upadhyay, a Supreme Court lawyer and member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The petition sought direction from the Supreme Court to order the federal government to enact a nationwide law against religious conversions and black magic.
    Looking to India’s constitution, the Supreme Court disagreed with the petition and directed that it be withdrawn. If the petitioner refused to withdraw, the justices threatened to impose heavy costs on the petitioner.
    According to Article 25 of India’s constitution, Indian citizens have the right to profess, practice, and propagate the religion of their choice. In recent years, this right has been attacked by Hindu nationalists seeking to establish India as a Hindu nation.
    Among the most potent tools used by Hindu nationalists are anti-conversion laws. These laws limit the religious freedom by requiring citizens to receive government approval before converting from one religion to another. These laws also criminalize forced religious conversions. Unfortunately, the ambiguity around what constitutes a forced conversion provides religious extremists legal cover as they persecute religious minorities.
    “The court directions are in the right spirit of the constitution, which guarantees every citizen the right to profess, practice, and propagate a religious of choice,” Father Babu Joseph, former spokesperson of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India, told the Union of Catholic Asian News (UCAN). “Several states have enacted laws curbing the religious freedom guaranteed by the constitution and it has had an adverse impact on several communities, especially Christians.”
    “The verdict has come at the right time,” Father Joseph continued. “Pro-Hindu groups have been clamoring for a national law to ban conversions and accusing Christian missionaries of adopting fraudulent means to convert socially poor Dalit and tribal people.”
    For interviews, please contact Alison Garcia: press@persecution.org.

  4. It is good to organise such a mass protest, but a majoritarian government is hardly likely to pay heed to it. Those provisions that go against the Constitution should be challenged in the Karnataka High Court.
    It is also good to remember that the first anti-conversion law was passed in the 1950s by the then Congress Govt in MP. Even recently the Congress Govt in Himanchal passed a similar legislation. Now Congress leaders like Margaret Alva are shedding crocodile tears over it!!

  5. Anti conversion laws are just imitation of Pakistan’s Blasphemy laws. We accuse them saying that their Blasphemy laws are meant to harass and destroy the minorities Hindus and Christians. But our leaders love to imitate Pakistan and so the anti -conversion laws. So they are siblings , children of the same mindset

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