Karnataka To Survey Churches To Find Out Cases Of "Forced Conversions"

A survey of churches has been ordered in the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) led  state of Karnataka. The order is aimed at identifying "unauthorized" churches and people involved in the church work, and find out if any forced conversions are being carried out in the state.

A committee of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly on backward classes and minorities' welfare held a meeting on October 13. The meeting was chaired by BJP Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) from Hosadurga, Gulihatti Shekhar.

The Order

The committee has ordered a survey of authorized and unauthorized Churches and their personnel and register cases if any instances of forced religious conversions are found.

“We have asked district authorities to furnish a detailed report on the number of authorized and unauthorized churches and Christian priests,” said Shekhar, Press Trust of India reported.

He also claimed that people, who originally belonged to Schedule Castes (SCs) and later convert to other religions, still claim reservation.

"Those who leave the community cannot claim double benefit. Due to these practices, the actual scheduled caste people are not getting the benefits,” he said.

He said the representatives of the backward classes and minorities affairs, home, revenue and law departments had stated at the meeting that there are about 1,790 churches in Karnataka.

The committee has asked them to find out how many of them are illegally established, he said, adding that according to the home department, 36 cases of forced conversion have been registered across the state.

"Forced, Lured, Threatened to Convert"

Shekar was the MLA who had raised the issue, of alleged forced religious conversions by Christian missionaries in the state, in the Legislative Assembly in his speech on September 21.

He had alleged that people from marginalized communities were forced and lured by Christian missionaries to convert to Christianity. And if they didn't comply, they were slapped with false charges.

He had said that even his mother, along with several others from Chitradurga district, was "brainwashed" and converted by missionaries, claiming that around 15,000-20,000 people in his constituency were possibly converted.

However, On October 11, Shekhar directed the "Ghar wapsi" of his mother and three other families in his village.

"Working on an Anti-conversion Law"

Karnataka Chief Minister, Basavaraj Bommai, had said during his visit to the communally polarised Mangaluru region that the state government was planning to enact a law to check forced religious conversions.

“We are serious about bringing in an anti-conversion law. We are looking at similar laws in other states and will decide", he had said.

 "Futile And Unnecessary"

Meanwhile, religious leaders of the Christian community have raised questions on the decision of the committee, fearing the move would make their community an easy target of fundamentalists.

“We consider this exercise as futile and unnecessary. There is no good that will come out of it, In fact, in the background of the conversion bogey and anti-religious feelings that are being whipped up, it is dangerous to make such surveys. With this our community places of worship as also pastors and sisters will be identified and may be unfairly targeted,” said Peter Machado, the Archbishop of Bengaluru, in a statement on Friday.

There have been instances reported in media of attacks at churches during prayers, alleging conversions being carried out there. The latest of such attacks was reported from Uttrakhand's Roorkee, where a mob had vandalized a church during morning prayer on October 3. As per the FIR registered in the case, the mob included members of Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), Bajrang Dal, and Bharatiya Janata Party’s youth wing.

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