By Matters India Reporter
Jaipur, Oct 7, 2025: More than 2,000 people have protested against the recently passed Rajasthan Religious Conversion Bill, 2025.
The protesters, who gathered at Shaheed Smarak (Martyr Memorial) Park in the state capital of Jaipur on October 5, urged the governor not to sign the bill the Rajasthan assembly passed on September 9.
They also asked the chief minister to stop criminalizing prayer meetings and to take action against hate campaigns targeting Christians, indiatomorrow.net reported October 6.
The bill reportedly aims to prevent religious conversions using force, fraud, allurement or coercion, punishable with steep penalties, including life imprisonment. Those returning to their “ancestral religion” have been exempted from the law.
The protesters came together under the banner of the Coordination Against the Religious Conversion Bill, 2025. More than 20 organizations, including the Jaipur Christian Fellowship and Rajasthan Christian Alliance, participated.
They resolved that minority communities would continue their state-wide protest until the bill is withdrawn. The central slogan of the gathering was: “Honourable Governor, please refuse to sign this unconstitutional bill and refer it to the President!”
Plans were announced for state-wide rallies, meetings, and signature campaigns in every district of the northwestern Indian state against the bill. Hundreds also signed a memorandum submitted to the governor. Another memorandum was presented to the chief minister.
The memorandum documented 13 attacks in seven states in the past 20 days. Protesters demanded protection of fundamental religious rights for Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, Sikhs, and others.
Police were urged to stop declaring Christian Sunday prayer meetings as “crimes,” a move that has caused panic in the community.
The protesters condemned repeated attacks on prayer meetings by Vishwa Hindu Parishad (World Hindu Council) and Bajrang Dal members. They criticized the state police for registering cases against clergy and devotees instead of protecting them.
Key speakers included Catholic Bishop Oswald Lewis of Jaipur, Pastor Vijaypal Singh, Father Edward Oliveira, Muhammad Nazimuddin (president, Jamaat-e-Islami Hind Rajasthan), Sawai Singh (Rajasthan Samagra Seva Sangh), Sumitra Chopra (CPIM), among others. Also present were representatives from Buddhist and other religious communities.
The participants pledged unity and constitutional values before ending the program singing the national anthem.
The protest was organized by a broad alliance, including Rajasthan Samagra Seva Sangh, People’s Union for Civil Liberties, Association for Protection of Civil Rights, Rajasthan Buddhist Mahasangh, National Federation of Indian Women, All India Democratic Women’s Association, and Movement Against Repression of Rajasthan.
Other partners were Young Buddhist Society of India, Jamaat-e-Islami Rajasthan, Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind, Forum for Democracy and Communal Amity, Communist Party of India (Marxist), Communist Party of India, the Rajasthan unit of Social Democratic Party of India, Rajasthan Nagrik Manch, Dalit–Muslim Unity Forum Welfare Party of India, and Ambedkarite Party of India.
Muhammad Nazimuddin, state president of Jamaat-e-Islami Hind Rajasthan, asserted that Rajasthan’s “Religious Conversion Bill, 2025,” is unconstitutional and violates the fundamental rights guaranteed by the Constitution.
He called for unconstitutional repeal of the bill and appealed the protesters to unite and oppose the government’s anti-constitutional policies.
The opposition members boycotted the debate on the bill and staged a walkout, alleging that the new legislation would break communal harmony and create tension in society.
A similar Bill, earlier tabled in the Assembly in February this year, was withdrawn and replaced with the new Bill.
The new bill contains provisions for life imprisonment, fines up to 10 million rupees, and confiscation and demolition of properties where mass conversions take place. The fines imposed on the offenders will be paid to the victims, in addition to compensation awarded by the court.
The bill’s passage has made Rajasthan the latest state ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party to bring the legislation to curb the alleged forcible religious conversions. Similar laws exist in Arunachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Uttarakhand, and Uttar Pradesh.