Uproar as Haryana govt tables controversial anti-conversion bill
Congress legislator Raghuvir Singh Kadian tore a copy of the bill in the House, prompting assembly speaker Gian Chand Gupta to suspend him for the remaining period of the ongoing budget session.
Chandigarh: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Haryana government on Friday introduced a bill against religious conversion through force or fraud in the state assembly amid a massive uproar from the opposition. Congress legislator Raghuvir Singh Kadian tore a copy of the bill in the House, prompting assembly speaker Gian Chand Gupta to suspend him for the remaining period of the ongoing budget session.
Protesting against Kadian’s suspension, other Congress members also staged a walkout.
The uproar started soon after state home minister Anil Vij introduced the Haryana Prevention of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Bill, 2022, on the third day of the budget session.
The bill prohibits religious conversions effected through misrepresentation, force, undue influence, coercion, allurement or by any fraudulent means or by marriage or for marriage by making it an offence.
While Vij was presenting the bill, Kadian, the Congress MLA from Beri, questioned the urgency behind bringing in the bill and demanded it to be sent to the select committee first.
“You are erecting a wall between Ram and Rahim,” said Kadian, accusing the ruling BJP- Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) coalition of pursuing “divisive policies”.
The home minister argued that the bill did not refer to any religion. The Congress, however, intensified its offensive.
Chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar interjected to allay the concerns of the Congress. But in the heat of his counter-offensive, Khattar told Congress leaders that they were free to convert into other religion. Congress members then rose from their seats, objecting to the remarks by the CM. Though Khattar regretted and withdrew his remarks, Congress MLAs trooped into the well of the House.
Amid the uproar, Kadian tore the copy of the bill, inviting the wrath of the speaker, who accused the Congress MLA of “violating the decorum” of the house and “insulting” it.
When Kadian, who is a former speaker of Haryana assembly, said it was a “printed piece paper”, Gupta insisted that the bill was a legal document as it had been introduced in the House and asked the Congress member to express regret over his act. When the Congress leader refused to apologise despite being asked repeatedly, Gupta suspended Kadian for the remaining part of the budget session.
Soon after Kadian’s suspension, the Congress staged a noisy walkout and boycotted the proceedings.
The Haryana Prevention of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Bill also provides for declaring marriages, which were done solely for the purpose of conversion from one religion to another, null and void.
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