Orissa call for teeth to anti-conversion law SANKARSHAN THAKUR Orissa law minister Harichandan
Bhubaneswar, Oct. 13: Orissa's law and industry minister Biswabhusan Harichandan has slammed Christian missionaries for conducting "illegal conversions on a large scale" and said the state needs a more stringent anti-conversion law to "prevent abuse of religion and hurt to Hindu sentiment". Harichandan, who is also the BJP's legislature party leader and number two in the Naveen Patnaik government, was speaking exclusively to The Telegraph in the wake of widespread anti-Christian violence in Kandhamal. Orissa already has an anti-conversion law — Orissa Freedom of Religion Act (OFRA), 1967 — which requires those seeking conversion to notarise their decision and inform the government. Harichandan argued, however, that OFRA was "insufficient" and needed to be given teeth. "We need a law that will punish people indulging in illegal conversion. Christians are using coercion and allurement to convert people and this is creating disaffection and anger among Hindus. This cannot be allowed, we need a law that will effectively deter them," he said. He also dared the Centre anew to impose central rule in the state or ban the Bajrang Dal, which allegedly led violent attacks on minorities in many places. "The Centre will pay a heavy political price if it invokes Article 356 in Orissa," Harichandan said. "Where is the justification? A few incidents in one district? As far as the Bajrang Dal is concerned, how can there be a general ban without investigating specific allegations and finding them guilty?" Asked whether the recent violence against Christians in Kandhamal was justified, Harichandan said: "The main issue is not that, the main issue is the murder of Swami Lakshmanananda Saraswati, who was deeply revered by Hindus. He was resisting forceful conversion by Christians. Naturally the people reacted. There was anger, it came out." Responding to a question on the Maoists claiming responsibility, he said: "I will not comment at the moment because three persons have been arrested and an inquiry is on. But I will say that all these years, the Maoists had never troubled or targeted Swamiji, he was preaching and moving about freely, so the Maoist claim is a little puzzling to us." Alleging that missionaries were using "foreign and NGO funds" to expand, he said: "They are causing social resentment by abusing Hindu gods and by practising alien rituals, they are changing the basic way of life. And all this is happening illegally. If you abuse anyone's religion, it will upset people deeply." He did not defend recent cases of Christians being "re-converted" to Hinduism — "forced conversion and re-conversion are both wrong" — but maintained that the provocation had come from Christians. "There is genuine anger at the way poor Hindus are being bought over," he said. He flayed a suggestion that discrimination against Dalits by caste Hindus may be one reason they were embracing Christianity. "I have heard this often and I have to say this theory is the imagination of intellectuals, they find it convenient to pursue this logic to defend illegal conversions. We have not had any discrimination in Hindu society, Hinduism is a free, welcoming religion, Harijans have always been free to be with us. Caste discrimination is an intellectual pursuit, it has little to do with reality." Elaborating on what he called the "devious caste angles" of the conversion debate, Harichandan said: "We know that many Dalits who are converting to Christianity have also obtained Scheduled Caste certificates from the government to avail themselves of all sorts of privileges, that is part of the game. You cannot be allowed to defraud the people and the government in the name of religious freedom." http://www.telegraphindia.com/1081014/jsp/nation/story_9965127.jsp