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Seriously considering law against forced religious conversions: Karnataka CM Bommai
Karnataka chief minister Bommai said he gave directions to district administrations not to allow any religious conversions by force recently.
Karnataka chief minister Basavaraj Bommai on Tuesday said that it was seriously considering a law to ban forced religious conversions in the state.
“Such things (conversions) are happening here and there. A couple of days ago, I gave appropriate directions to district administrations not to allow any religious conversion through inducement or by force, as it is illegal,” Bommai said on Tuesday.
The statement comes days after the issue was raised in the monsoon session of the state legislature held between September 13 to 24.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)ruled states like Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh have already put in place laws to prevent forcible conversion.
In the monsoon session, the matter was raised by Goolihatti D Shekar, the BJP legislator from Hosadurga, during the Zero hour on September 20.
The legislator said that there has been heightened activity around conversions and that his own mother has been converted after she was “brainwashed”.
“In Chitradurga (district) and my constituency (Hosadurga) around 15,000-20,000 people have already been converted,” he said.
“Dalits, backward classes and even Muslims are being converted,” he had said.
Several other legislators rose to support the proposal, which they said was disturbing the peace of the society.
Araga Jnanendra, Karnataka’s home minister said that the government is aware of these developments and deliberating on if it should introduce a law or other measures at the earliest.
He also sought details of any such organisations who were slapping false charges which would be investigated and action would be taken against such people.
