Bommai hints at bringing anti-conversion bill

Hubballi, Dec. 12: Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Sunday hinted that the draft of the anti-conversion bill would be approved by the state cabinet and it may be introduced in the winter session of the Assembly in Belagavi.

The cabinet is expected to meet during the Belagavi Assembly session, which begins from December 13.

“A majority of people want to ban religious conversion. The law department is reviewing it (draft bill). After the review, it will be cleared in the cabinet meeting,” he told reporters here.

“In all probabilities, the draft rule proposed by the law department would be approved and the subject may come up for discussion (in the Assembly session),” Bommai said.

Claiming that religious conversion was not good for the society, the Chief

Minister said the downtrodden people should not succumb to it.

He explained that his government is trying to bring a law to curb religious conversions to prevent people from facing hardship in the families.

He, however, clarified that people of all religious communities need not panic with respect to the anti-conversion law.

“Hindus, Christians, Muslims and Sikhs are the faiths recognised by the constitution and there is no problem for people to pray or follow their respective religions. However, there is no scope for misusing someone’s poverty to lure them to change their faith,” Bommai said.

The Chief Minister said religious conversion had always been a matter of debate since the days of country’s independence, and several states have introduced anti-conversion laws.

Many Christian

organisations, including the Archdiocese of Bangalore, have opposed the proposed anti-conversion bill.

Meanwhile, Suvarna Soudha, where the Karnataka legislature session will be held after two years due to Covid related restrictions, is all decked up for the winter session of the Assembly, which will commence from December 13.

The imposing replica of the Vidhana Soudha in Bengaluru, which was inaugurated on October 11, 2012, has not witnessed any session since 2018.

The 10-day session will be held under the shadow of the new Covid variant Omicron. The entire premises of Suvarna Soudha has been sanitised whereas strict Covid norms have been put in place, officials said. Those attending the session will have to produce certificate of having taken two doses of vaccine and a negative RT-PCR test report. —