One month after the elections that led to the defeat of the BJP, the new local government, led by the Congress party, has announced that in the next parliamentary session in July it will repeal the controversial law promoted by Hindu nationalists. This will reduce the number of Indian states in which it remains in force to nine. Archbishop Machado: “I hope others will follow his example soon.”
Bangalore () – One month after its victory over the Hindu nationalists of the BJP in local elections, the new government of the Indian state of Karnataka officially announced today that it will repeal the controversial anti-conversion law.
Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Minister HK Patil stated that in the upcoming parliamentary session, which starts on July 5, the Congress Party-led executive will ask its MPs to strike down the amendments that the BJP introduced last year in the law protecting the right to religious freedom in Karnataka.
The measure that Hindu nationalists pushed through on May 17, 2022, despite civil society protests and a vote against it by all opposition, provides for jail terms of three to five years and fines of Rs 25,000 for conversions, which are even tougher in the case of minors, women and people belonging to disadvantaged groups. During the electoral campaign, the Congress Party had promised to abolish it; also thanks to this he obtained a wide victory at the polls, reversing the result of the 2018 elections.
The Archbishop of Bangalore, Monsignor Peter Machado, commented on the news to : “It was a discriminatory, unconstitutional and unnecessary law. I hope that the repeal will pass smoothly in the assembly when it is discussed. Christians will always continue to work in accordance with the Indian Constitution, in the interest of the State and the nation, and We will continue to render our service to all, regardless of caste and creed, reaching out especially to the poor and marginalized.”
With this repeal announced by Karnataka, the number of Indian territories where anti-conversion laws are in force drops to 9 (out of 36): Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh. Before this Indian state, Tamil Nadu had also repealed in 2002 a similar law passed four years earlier by Hindu nationalists, while in Rajasthan, in 2006, the law passed by the local legislature never got the governor’s approval to be enacted. . In New Delhi, however, Hindu extremist groups have long pushed for the passage of a federal anti-conversion law, applicable throughout India.
“In all the places where it has been approved”, Bishop Machado affirmed, “the anti-conversion law has increased attacks against Christians, encouraging extremists to attack and harm Christians. It has fueled doubt, mistrust and discord between communities. I hope other states will follow this example and withdraw the law.”
