Verghese V Joseph –
Bengaluru: Reacting to Karnataka Governor Thawar Chand Gehlot giving his nod to the ordinance for introducing the controversial Karnataka Protection of Right to Freedom of Religion Bill, 2021, “the entire Christian community across the State of Karnataka is deeply hurt,” said Most Rev. Dr. Peter Machado, Metropolitan Archbishop of Bangalore on Wednesday.
Dr. Machado who is the President of Karnataka Region Catholic Bishop’s Council and also the President of All Karnataka United Christian Forum for Human Rights felt, “The entire Christian community is disturbed that the Government has let down the Christian populace living in the state”
The ordinance, was brought in by the BJP government, popularly known as the anti-conversion Bill. The Karnataka Governor has given assent to the Contemptuous Bill called “Protection of Right to Religious Freedom” which is now a law.
“The Christian Community feels betrayed when its sentiments are not taken note of and its selfless services in the fields of education, healthcare and other social areas for the welfare of all the communities are not taken into consideration. For the past couple of months, we were repeatedly drawing the attention of the State Government and the general public that this said Bill was irrelevant and malicious, and it only aimed at dividing the Christians from other religious minorities,” the archbishop lamented.
“When we came to know that this Bill was sent to the Governor of Karnataka for his assent, our delegation had met him and made an earnest appeal to him not to give assent to the proposed Bill but, unfortunately, our request was not honoured and considered favourably by the Governor,” the archbishop rued.
Stressing that, “It is a well-known fact that the Christian Community is always a law-abiding and peace-loving community, and it will pursue the options available to it to democratically ensure that this Act will not come into force,” he added.
On Monday, Christian leaders had met Gehlot with a plea opposing the anti-conversion law. Archbishop of Bengaluru Peter Machado, in the memorandum, had appealed to the governor to refrain from giving his assent to the ordinance.
On Tuesday, home minister Araga Jnanendra said the state government was committed to strictly implementing the anti-conversion law, for which the cabinet had decided to promulgate an ordinance last week.
Jnanendra said the ordinance was not against any religion, but affirmed that religious conversion by force or through inducement had no place under the legislation. He tried to allay fear in the Christian community, saying there was nothing in the ordinance that curtailed constitutionally provided religious rights.
Defending the ordinance, the minister said this step had been taken to “maintain peace and order in the society”.
The BJP government’s move to bring in the anti-conversion law in the state had drawn criticism from the opposition and Christian groups.