Karnataka Congress government decided to scarp in Anti-Conversion Law

The Karnataka Congress government cabinet on Thursday decided to scrap the anti-conversion law introduced by the previous BJP government, according to media reports. The changes approved by the state cabinet today also included history syllabus in schools and even a law on agricultural markets, said HK Patil, the state’s Law & Parliamentary Affairs minister, after the cabinet meeting. 

The law against religious conversion through coercion, misrepresentation, or allurement, adopted by many BJP-ruled states, was introduced in Karnataka through an Ordinance or executive order in May last year.  A bill to replace it was later introduced in the state assembly in September.

The law became a flashpoint between the BJP and the Congress The opposition party contended that it was a tool for harassment of minorities. “Our law is capable of stopping conversion that is forced through incentives and threats. Then what is the need for a new law? The only reason is to threaten and harass minorities,” Mr Siddaramaiah had told the media last year.

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The matter even went to court, where Christian organisations argued that the new law violated the religious freedom guaranteed by the Constitution. Mr Patil also said the Cabinet has decided to remove the chapters on VD Savarkar and KB Hedgewar, one of the founders of the BJP’s ideological mentor Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, from school history books. The chapters were added last year.