"Becoming Another UP": Karnataka Protests Over Anti-Conversion Bill Grow

The contentious anti-conversion bill was tabled in the Karnataka assembly on Tuesday despite concerns raised by the opposition and Christian leaders over its potential misuse to target religious minorities.

After the tabling of the bill, a fresh protest was held by a group of organisations in Bengaluru, and attended by Bengaluru's Archbishop Peter Machado, who has made his opposition to the bill very clear.

"This group here (protesters) is not a Christian group. The Christians have not organised any rally today. We tried it in the past - we have approached the government but the government was not listening. But now that the contents of the bill are read by others, they say it is not affecting only Christians. It is affecting larger society - the question of privacy, the question of marriage, the question of women, Dalits, Muslims. There are 40 human rights groups here. I am just a minority here. It is not a Christian rally. It is sad that the government has taken this up. It looks like they are humiliating more and more groups that are behind me," Archbishop Machado, who was part of the protest march from Mysore Bank Circle to Freedom Park, said.

On other states passing similar bills, the Archbishop said, "Karnataka cannot take bad things from other states and put it in Karnataka. Karnataka is a developed and progressive state. We have to give a message to others that Karnataka is open to privacy, dignity and human rights. The government is damaging itself by trying to damage us Christians. It is affecting the other groups much more than the Christians. 80 per cent of Hindus are with us. They have gone to our schools, through our system. We have no complaint against them. But there is a strong fringe group that the Chief Minister and the government seems to be comfortable with."

The Archbishop also indicated that a legal route might be explored to counter the new bill.

Women activists, who were part of the protest, said that the bill is being seen as a potential restriction to their freedom of choice.

Manvi, an advocate, told NDTV, "If you look at the definitions in the bill, it includes allurement to mean any kind of free education, gifts, any kind of employment, anything in kind. This is the most vague, arbitrary definition of a law. You are reversing the burden of proof on somebody who has alleged to have forcefully converted. The bill presumes that each and every conversion is a forcible conversion. It is against my right to choose, even in terms of marriage as it prohibits marriage done for the purpose of conversion. Or conversion for the purpose of marriage. Many feel that Karnataka's law is tougher than similar laws in other BJP-ruled states. Karnataka's is far worse as it has broader provisions."

Another woman at the protest said, "I am here because as a woman, I feel these kinds of laws are taking away freedoms from women, giving a licence to lynch. I feel what I wear, who I marry should be my choice. If I am old enough to decide other things, I should be old enough to decide who my partner is. Right to Religion is given to me in this country. I don't see why somebody else can say - you have not made the right decision - or make the decision for me. There is no such thing as forced conversion. How are you going to validate what is forced and what is not? This is my word against your word or against a group of rowdies. The very idea that I have to give a notice to the District Magistrate a month in advance before I convert is in itself an infringement on my right to do what I want. It is basically giving time for people to come and intimidate me. In the south we used to be much more civilised, much more religiously tolerant and secular. But we seem to be changing and becoming another Uttar Pradesh."

"This is against democracy. They didn't ask the public, or anyone. They themselves made this bill. There was no discussion in the assembly," Mamatha, an activist, said.

The state government has defended the move with Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai saying that the anti-conversion bill was necessary to challenge "attempts to change the cultural background through allurement" in the state.

"Initially it is coercion and allurement. Then it becomes a disease and later a menace. Our society, state and the nation should not allow this to happen," the Chief Minister said at an event.

If the bill is passed in the Karnataka assembly, it still has to go through the legislative council where the ruling BJP does not have a majority. The party had hoped to secure this majority in council elections held recently, but they fell just short in the 75-member upper house.