Karnataka’s winter session is expected to be stormy in Belagavi on Monday as the BJP-led government is expected to table controversial bills- legislation against religious conversions. Along with this, the Opposition is likely to raise allegations of corruption against the incumbent government.
The winter session will conclude on December 24. On Sunday, Karnataka chief minister Basavaraj Bommai hinted that the draft of the anti-conversion bill would be approved by the state cabinet. “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. “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.
The opposition, Congress has said it will oppose the bill, which is yet to be cleared by the state’s law department.
Terming the bill as ‘communal agenda’, Leader of the opposition in the Karnataka legislature Siddaramaiah said, “There is a provision in the Constitution for people to convert to a religion of their choice. If there are forcible conversions strict legal action can be taken. The anti-conversion law is part of the communal agenda of the BJP. The BJP does not have the courage to seek votes on the basis of their accomplishments so they are injecting the venom of communalism into the minds of people. They want to win polls with the Hindutva agenda. Congress will oppose it tooth & nail”
The law criminalises religious conversion by force, undue influence, coercion, or allurement. It includes within its ambit marriage for the sake of religious conversion. and if found guilty the perpetrator can be imprisoned. Other BJP-led states including Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh have similar laws. Their validity has been challenged before the courts.
Christian leaders, including the Archbishop of Bengaluru Peter Machado, have publicly spoken against such a law in Karnataka. Apart from this, the state government is also expected to revoke the laws related to the controversial farm legislations, which have now been repealed in Parliament. The winter session is being held in north Karnataka city after a gap of two years. The state government decided to go ahead with it despite concern over the emergence of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus.
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