Raipur: Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai has accused the Christian missionaries of carrying out religious conversion under the guise of providing education and healthcare facilities while warning to stop the practice.
Addressing a programme in Raipur, Sai said that the missionaries play an active role in the education and health sectors following which, there is an increase in religious conversion cases. This will be stopped and Hindutva will be strengthened, he said.
"Chhattisgarh is dominated by missionaries. In the tribal areas, they are active in education and health sectors, resulting in a rise in conversions. Only when all this stops will Hindutva get strengthened," Sai said.
Responding to the CM's statement, Chhattisgarh Christian Samaj chief Arun Pannalal said, "The CM has said two-three things about Christian missionaries. He has said that missionaries have been dominating in health and education sectors and we accept that we have been providing maximum service in these fronts since the beginning. CM has not said that conversion is a crime. He spoke about stopping conversion by strengthening Hindutva and emphasised on education and health. If education and health reach the needy then it will be a matter of happiness for us because we have been serving the public with this aim."
Pannalal said that conversion has always been an issue and will continue to remain so in future. "The reality is as long as there is a Constitution, conversion will continue because it is not a crime under the Constitution," he said adding that missionaries do not have the right to convert and it is the priests who perform the conversion. One has to register for religious conversion with the collector, he added.
The head of Christian society further reminded the BJP-led state government that the community has given three Assembly seats directly to the saffron party and 14 seats of Surguja have gone directly to BJP's account. "Now we will discuss all the options before us. Violence is being recorded continuously and if it is not controlled then it will have an adverse effect on the Lok Sabha elections. Both Congress and BJP may have to bear the consequences," he said.
He alleged that Congress had assaulted them following which they parted ways. "We are watching BJP and if we face the same behaviour then we will go for NOTA option in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls," he added.
Countering Sai's statement, state president of Congress media cell Sushil Anand Shukla said, "If the CM feels conversion is taking place somewhere in the name of education and health, then he has the entire government machinery to curb it. Why is he issuing statements without taking any action?"
Shukla alleged that BJP talks about conversion only during elections. Since Lok Sabha elections are round the corner, the issue is being raised by the BJP, he said. "Conversion is a nationwide problem and law should be enacted for it. Now that BJP has formed the government in Chhattisgarh, the party can enact a law against conversion," he added.
The Congress leader said that when the party was in power in the state, the Chief Minister had asked to register a case if any conversion takes place but not a single BJP leader took the initiative. "We challenge BJP to release a white paper on how many churches were built under erstwhile Raman Singh government and that during the Congress regime. Ninety percent of the churches in Chhattisgarh were built during the BJP government's tenure, Shukla said.
Political expert Uchit Sharma said such a statement has been issued by the CM, who is the state head for the first time. The statement may have been made on a particular religious community, but it is also true that in Bastar, most of the people are victims of religious conversion, Sharma said adding, "Religious leaders in the state have always raised the issue. Recently Dhirendra Shastri said that Asia's second largest church is in Chhattisgarh."
Sai may have some thoughts on strengthening education and health but the truth is missionaries have worked in areas where the government has not been able to penetrate into, Sharma said. "Till now no FIR or case has been registered regarding religious conversion. The issue is raised only for political gains," Sharma added.
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