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Days after the Chhattisgarh’s Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai asserted that he is not against people who followed Christianity as their religious faith and his concern only resolves around specific actions such as ‘slaughtering of cows and religious conversion,’ Prabal Pratap Judev, State Secretary of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Chhattisgarh on December 18 had asked for an enquiry into the alleged cases of conversion that occured under the Bhupesh- Baghel led- Congress government regime.
Reacting to the Maharashtra Government’s move to form a committee to study conversion in the tribal (Janjati/Vanvasi) regions of the state, the Akhil Bhartiya Gherwapasi Pramukh on Monday said “that a probe should be initiated to enquire about the cases of conversion that occurred under the Congress government tenure so that the involvement of the government apparatus should be exposed.”
Government and non-government apparatus indulged in cow-smuggling and ‘Ganja’ smuggling in the state should be enquired about and speedy justice should be served into cases registered under section 170 (b) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), said the BJP leader who contested the State assembly elections from the Kota assembly seats and lost by a narrow margin.
Further while emphasising on the need of a tighten law on conversion the BJP leader from Vanvasi dominated Jashpur said that those who have converted should be deprived of reservation benefits and a stringent law should be enacted to deal with the cases of illegal conversion.
Communal scuffle over cases of illegal conversions
It is to be noted that the Vanvasi dominated state has witnessed a number of communal scuffle over growing cases of illegal conversion in recent years. The surge in cases of illegal conversion through means of inducement and fallacy have also led to clashes between the newly converted Christians and the local Hindu Vanvasi community.
Earlier clashes erupted between the two community after a group of newly converted Christians backed by some local goons launched a surprised attack on the members of the Hindu community when the latter had gathered for a village meet over growing menace of conversion in Gorra village of Narayanpur in Jnauary this year.
The incident sparked a huge outrage among the Vanvasi community who carried out protest rallies leading to more clashes in the days to come. Later on, a delegation of the leaders of the community also met with the then governor Anusuiya Uikey and demanded a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) enquiry into the matter alleging that the local administration is working under the pressure of missionaries.
In another case reported from Bhejripadar village under Pipara police station of Bastar, a number of people including a few policemen sustained injuries after the two community got indulged in a heated debate which later turned violent over the burial of an old lady in March this year.
Similar incidents of communal scuffle were also reported from Kondre and Polammpalli of Sukma districts where the locals gathered in large numbers and protested against the illegal conversion and the lacklustre attitude of administration in dealing with such cases.
It is pertinent to mention here that the Janjati community across Bharat has been hitting the streets lately, demanding a nationwide de-listing exercise to identify those who have converted to any other religion other than those originated in Bharat and still availing the benefits of reservation reserved exclusively for the Janjati community. A large number of such rallies have also been held in Janjati dominated regions of Chhattisgarh such as Sarguja, Jashpur, Raigarh and Bastar regions of the state.
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