Hundreds of protestors hit the streets of Bengaluru on Wednesday against the Karnataka government’s contentious anti-conversion bill. A coalition of over 40 organisations took out a protest march from Mysore Bank Circle to Freedom Park, calling for its withdrawal.
Speaking at the protest, advocate and constitutional law expert Arvind Narrain said that the Supreme Court has recognised that individuals have the freedom to dress the way they want, eat what they want and practise the faith they want. The bill by seeking to target conversions interferes with both the human right to dignity and the freedom to practise the faith of their choice.
The Karnataka Cabinet Monday approved the anti-conversion bill, criminalising the right to choose one’s faith in the name of ‘forced’ conversion. Titled ‘Karnataka Protection of Right to Religion Bill, 2021’, the bill is likely to be tabled in the Assembly this week.
The Bill, if passed, will allow the state to declare interfaith marriages involving conversion “null and void.”
It proposes up to 10 years of imprisonment for ‘forced’ religious conversion. Imprisonment ranges from 3 to 5 years with a fine of Rs 25,000. For conversion involving a minor, woman or an SC/ST person, the jail term is 3 to 10 years, with a fine of Rs 50,000.
Gowramma of Janwadi Mahila Sanghatan stated that these are dark days in Karnataka and the bill is not just an attack on religion but an attack on all women. The bill presumes that women and individuals from Dalit and SC communities do not have the agency to decide the religion they want to belong to. Demanding that the state withdraw the bill, she asked that the government should instead be paying attention to problems of nutrition, unemployment and rising violence against women.
Archbishop of Bengaluru Peter Machado urged the state to reconsider the bill and withdraw it. The bill is harmful to not only Christians but also many other communities. He pointed out that many laws exist already to prevent forced conversions. The Christian community has always served the country and its poor and forced conversions are a mortal sin for us, he added.
Yousuf Kunhi, Jamaat-e-Islami, Karnataka chapter, directly addressing the Lingayat MLAs in Karnataka’s assembly, stated that by supporting the bill, they would be going against Basavanna’s teachings. He also asked all the supporters of the bill in the Assembly to resign because they won the elections on the basis of the constitution and promised development, progress and communal harmony. If they cannot deliver on these promises, they have no right to continue in office, he added.
C.S. Dwarkanath, former chairperson of the State Backward Classes Commission, asked on what basis was the law being formulated without any discussions with experts and lawyers. Citing Ambedkar’s stance on conversion, he said that the constitution-maker had declared that people should not be born into a religion but should be allowed to choose their faith. It is also the inherent discrimination and the absence of fraternity within the Hindu religion that prompts people to convert, he pointed out.
Clifton D’Rozario from All India Lawyers Association for Justice stated that this is a fascist attack on minorities, women and the oppressed in our society. Pointing to the Chief Minister BS Bommai attending an event organised by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal in the middle of the assembly session, he said that the CM had called conversion a big disease, the government was tackling it through such laws but the VHP and Bajrang Dal should start a statewide campaign about this. All this highlights the ways in which the fascist political project is being implemented through the law.
Ruth Manorama of Women’s Voice highlighted her own Dalit Christian identity and said that as an activist with 40 years of experience working with slum residents, Dalits and women and the capacity to mobilise lakhs of people, she had not converted even one individual. Arguing that the bill is anti-Christian, anti-Muslim, anti-Buddhist, she said that as citizens we believe in secularism and will protect it till our death.
Advocate BT Venkatesh, activist Akkai Padmashali, writer Sharifa, among others also spoke at the protest.
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