Karnataka scraps anti-conversion law
The Karnataka government has decided to scrap the contentious and communally divisive anti-conversion law brought in by the previous BJP government, like in many other states. The then leader of opposition, and currently chief minister, Siddaramaiah told the media last year that current laws were sufficient at “stopping conversion that is forced through incentives and threats”.
Karnataka has become the first state to reverse a trend – of promulgating anti-conversion laws, something which many BJP-ruled states have done in the name of ‘love jihad’, which is nothing but a communally divisive agenda aimed at imposing Hindu majoritarianism.
The Chief Minister Siddaramaiah-led Congress government has decided, at a cabinet meeting on Thursday, June 15, to scrap the law against religious conversion, a step towards meeting the party’s pre-poll promise of reviewing and if necessary, scrapping all the laws made by the previous BJP government.
In May last year, the BJP government in Karnataka brought in an ordinance to facilitate the introduction of the anti-conversion law. The bill was passed by the legislative assembly and legislative council last September to be made into a law, amid vehement objections by the Congress and JD(S), who were then in opposition.
Siddaramaiah told the media last year that the current laws were sufficient at “stopping conversion that is forced through incentives and threats. Then what is the need for a new law? The only reason is to threaten and harass minorities.”
The 10 other states which have anti-conversion laws, promulgated in the last few years, are Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Arunachal Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand.
