Bengaluru: Metropolitan Archbishop of Bangalore, Most Rev. Dr. Peter Machado, on Monday appealed to the Governor of Karnataka Mr Thawar Chand Gehlot not to give assent to the Protection of Religious Freedom Bill proposed by the Government of Karnataka.
The archbishop is the President of Karnataka Region Catholic Bishops’ Council and also the President of All Karnataka United Christian Forum for Human Rights.
Leaders of the community met the Governor and presented a memorandum and urged him to heed to their earnest appeal and refrain from giving his assent to Bill.
The memorandum stated that the entire Christian Community in Karnataka opposes the proposal of the Protection of Religious Freedom Bill also known as the Anti-Conversion Bill in one voice and questions the need for such an exercise when sufficient laws and court directives are in place to monitor any aberration of the existing laws. The Indian Constitution Article 25 very clearly says, “Freedom of conscience and free profession, practice and propagation of religion subject to public order, morality and health.” Further, Article 26 says that, “All denominations can manage their own affairs in matters of religion.” And, therefore, introducing such laws would infringe the rights of the citizens, especially of the minority communities.
In the memorandum, the archbishop and the Christian community leaders said, “The Backward Classes and Minorities Welfare Departments of Government of Karnataka had earlier issued an Order to conduct a survey of both official and non-official Christian Missionaries and the Institutions and Establishments functioning in the State. When all the relevant data is already available (through the Census) with the Government, why do we need yet another futile exercise? Why is only Christian Minority Community targeted and marked for this arbitrary, fallacious and illogical move? What is the motive that is driving them to do so?”
“It is a well-known fact that thousands of schools, colleges and hospitals are run and managed by the Christian Community across the State and Country as well. We are happy to say that lakhs and lakhs of students are studying now and have studied in the past in the Christian Institutions and, most of them, are holding responsible positions and are placed in high offices today. Hundreds and thousands of judges, IAS officers, ministers, politicians, who have occupied/occupying key positions in the country, are proud to have studied in the Christian institutions. May we reiterate the point that not a single incident of forced conversion has been reported so far. Then, where is the complaint coming from and what is the motive behind such false and fabricated news? Let the Government prove whether any one of them has ever been influenced, compelled or coerced to change his or her religion,” he stated in the memorandum.
The Archbishop reiterated that everyone in the state and country knows that lakhs of patients, especially the poor, irrespective of their caste, creed, or religion, have been receiving the best medical attention and treatment from the Christian-run hospitals, and healthcare centers, and rehabilitation centres across the Country and State. There have been no reports or instances where they have been forced to convert or have been pursued to change his or her religion. The service rendered is purely on humanitarian grounds and surely not with any malafide motives. Such being the case, we fail to understand the need for such a Bill.
He feared that “It is indeed a matter of great concern that anti-conversion bill would become a tool for the fringe elements to take law into their own hands, and vitiate the atmosphere with provocations, false accusations, communal unrest in the otherwise peaceful State of Karnataka.”
A few stray and sporadic incidents of conversion should not portray the entire community in a bad light. The government’s statistics prove beyond doubt that, since independence, there has been hardly any growth in conversions, and it is all fabricated to suit the political agendas of some political parties, he put forth.
According to Census data of India, the percentage of the Christian population in the Country in 2001 was 2.34 percent. And, as per the Census data of India-2011, the Christian Population declined marginally from 2.34 percent to 2.30 percent. Also, in the State of Karnataka, the situation is in no way different. The statistics give a clear picture that the Christian Population in the State of Karnataka, during the 2001 census, marked to 1.91 percent, while it significantly decreased to 1.87 percent in the year 2011. If there were rampant conversions, as claimed by some, the Christian population, both in state and nation, should have seen a considerable increase in numbers. But the facts and figures indicate that a lot of hue and cry, over religious conversion, is unrealistically magnified and grossly exaggerated.
“Hence, we, the Representatives of the Christian Community in Karnataka, strongly appeal to Your Excellency to refrain from giving ascent to such an undesirable and discriminatory Bill in the interest and welfare of the Christian minority community, and also to maintain peace, harmony and unity among all the religious communities in the State and in the Country,” he said adding, “We invoke the abundant Blessings of God upon you and the entire State.”