The debate over conversion has once again taken centre stage in Chhattisgarh. Recently several senior leaders of the ruling party have opined that the State has been a victim of illegal conversion for a long time and that stringent laws should be enacted to deal with the long-pending issue of conversion.
Taking the debate further, Chief Minister (CM) Vishnu Deo Sai while launching a vicious attack on the mission-backed conversion on Sunday, January 28, said that the missionaries are in a dominant position in Chhattisgarh and large-scale conversions are promoted by them.
Missionaries are in dominance; they are a dominant force in education and healthcare, and their ramifications are that they promote conversion under the pretext of providing health and education facilities. It will be stopped, and Hindutva will get new power, said CM Sai while addressing a gathering in a private ceremony in Chhattisgarh’s capital, Raipur.
The remarks of the CM come days after he while addressing another gathering at Gudiyari of Raipur had said that widescale conversion has taken place in Chhattisgarh which also holds the second largest Church of the Asia and it was only due to efforts of former union minister Dilip Singh Judev that his hometown, Jashpur was saved from rampage conversion.
Cases of illegal conversion
It is to be noted that reports pertaining to illegal conversion and promotion of anti-Hindu narrative have been coming to the fore from separate corners of the state since long, and off late, the issue has also inspired the local Hindu Vanvasi community to come on the street and protest against the augmenting menace of conversion.
Recently, in a similar incident of promoting anti-Hindu sentiments, reported from Bilaspur, a government school teacher has been reportedly suspended by the authorities after he was found guilty of promoting anti-Hindu narratives among the students.
According to the information floating in the media, the said teacher, identified as Ratna Lal Sarovar, can be seen administering an oath to the student to not worship Hindu Gods such as Brahma Vishnu and Mahesha (Shiva).
In a viral video of the incident that has been doing the rounds on social media lately, the teacher can be heard promoting anti-Hindu narrative such as Ram and Krishna should not be worshipped as Ishwar (God).
It’s been learned that the said video was of January 22, the date on which the historic consecration ceremony of Bhagwan Ram took place in Ayodhya. Now that the video has gone viral on social media, the District Education Officer (DEO) has suspended the accused headmaster, while a First Information Report (FIR) against the accused teacher has also been filed in the case.
The development occurred a day after an altercation broke out between members of the Hindu and Christian communities after the latter group was caught red-handed promoting propagandist material in a private premise in Raigarh, Chhattisgarh, on January 27.
It is worth mentioning here that a similar altercation broke out between the two communities over alleged attempts to promote conversion in Vasudevpur village of Jashpur, which also led to minor injuries to members of both communities on January 21.
Stringent law against conversion
It is pertinent to mention here that amidst these incidents and ongoing debate over conversion, the Vishnu Deo Sai-led Chhattisgarh government is also reported to be mulling over a stringent anti-conversion law to deal with the issue of conversion.
According to the inputs available, the government is mulling over enacting a stringent law under the constitutional framework to deal with the long-pending issue of conversion, as hinted by a number of senior leaders of the Bhartiya Janata Party, including Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai and his deputy Arun Sao.
If reports are to be believed, the aforementioned step can be taken before the run-up to the Lok Sabha election, scheduled to be held in the first half of this year, where the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led party is eyeing securing all 10 seats in the tribal-dominated State.
