Himachal Pradesh passes anti–conversion Bill, evokes protest

Himachal Pradesh government has passed a legislation banning forced religious conversions in the State.

The Congress–led Government in the State passed the legislation during its four–day winter session held at the newly constructed Vidhan Sabha in Dharamshala on December 29, 2006.

"According to the Bill if someone was forced to change his religion without his consent, he could come back to his own religion within a month," State Law Minister, Kaul Singh said.

Under the Bill, persons who had forced or induced someone to change his/her religion were liable for punishment, he said.

According to Vijay Kumar, principal secretary of the state home department, passing of the legislation was "not a reactionary measure, but a proactive one, to infuse confidence among the people of the state that the government is thoughtful of the issues."

This is the first time such a law has been passed in a state ruled by the Congress Party, which is usually critical of such legislation. The opposition Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has welcomed the Bill.

Back in November 2005, when the draft Bill was being studied, the minority communities in the state, particularly Christians, were alarmed.

The Evangelical Fellowship of India (EFI) has condemned the passing of the Bill which states that any person found forcibly converting another person could be imprisoned for up to two years and/or fined up to Rs. 25,000.

"The bill states that any person wishing to convert to another religion must give prior notice of at least 30 days to the district government. Failure to do so will invite a penalty of up to Rs. 1,000," Rev. Richard Howell, general secretary, EFI, said, noting that the Bill was passed despite assurances of the Congress Party President, Ms. Sonia Gandhi that the Central Government and the Congress Party would always oppose to such laws being passed by the Bharatiya Janata Party governments.

EFI has appealed to the Congress Party not to play into the hands of extremists and fundamentalists groups and has urged the Governor of Himachal Pradesh Justice (Retd.) Vishnu Sadashiv Kokje to return the Bill to the Legislative Assembly for further discussion.

"Apart from the law, it is worrying that the social ministry of the Church is being scrutinized and regarded with such suspicion," Archbishop Stanislaus Fernandes, secretary general of the Bishops' Conference of India, said.

"For over a century, the Church has been actively involved in working among the poor and marginalised through her health, educational and welfare programmes. Never before have these good works been doubted," he said.

"We are intrigued as to why the state government passed the bill," Father Babu Joseph, spokesperson for the Catholic Bishops' Conference of India (CBCI), said.

The Congress party, which leads the federal government, "is known for its secular credentials," he said, expressing concern that the Himachal Pradesh government was "dragged" into passing such a bill by pro–Hindu ideologues.

"As with every issue faced by our missionaries on the field, we are taking this difficulty to our Lord in prayer," said Dr. K.P. Yohannan, founder and president of Gospel for Asia. "We ask that all Christians join us in prayer that by God's grace, the Governor of Himachal Pradesh will refuse to sign this bill. We also pray that this potential legislation would not lead to an increase in persecution of GFA missionaries and believers sharing Christ."

"We are also praying that the elected officials who are debating this bill will come to understand that Jesus loves them," he said.

According to Open Doors' Jerry Dykstra, the way the Bill is worded leaves a great deal open to interpretation. "That's probably the local police or the radical Hindus who are in the government there in that particular city. So it leaves a lot of ability to judge who was doing wrong to the local government. That does not sit well for many of the Christians," he said.

"The more of these laws that are put into place, the more these pastors will have a harder time spreading the Gospel. The anti–conversion laws are ways of restricting the growth of Christianity, but we know, in looking at Christianity in other countries, when Christians are persecuted, it actually spurs the growth of Christianity," he added.

Terming the move of the state government a "cruel joke," John Dayal, president, All India Catholic Union and member, National Integrity Council, said, "[Congress Party leader] Sonia Gandhi had written to me expressing her government's and party's opposition to such laws being passed by the BJP [Bharatiya Janata Party] governments. But now, her own party in Himachal Pradesh has brought about such a Bill."

According to Dayal, the state Chief Minister Vir Bhadra Singh was playing into the hands of Hindu extremists. "It is no honor to the Congress Party, and it must disown the bill and have it withdrawn," he said, adding, "The Congress party has to answer to this. How is the party going to keep the promise of protecting its minorities?"

Following the implementation of the legislation, there are now concerns over the loose interpretation that could be applied to the law, and particularly that missionaries and Christians in the state, who were preaching the gospel, will now be targeted for persecution, BosNewLife has reported.

A major advocacy group in India, the Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC), said that it was worried that the law could be used "to appease radical Hindus at the expense of the Christian community," according to the BosNewsLife.

Christian leaders in India have steadfastly opposed such legislation, maintaining that the vague terms used in them, such as "force," "inducement" and "fraud," could be applied to Christian services in education, social work and health care. They fear such laws would be used to arrest and harass missioners working in the remote villages.

Evangelical Christians have debated that "forced conversions" are against the teachings of the Bible, as each individual is given the freedom to accept or reject Jesus Christ.

The population of Himachal Pradesh is about six million people, with over 90 percent of them bring Hindu, according to the 2001 India Census.

Anti–conversion laws exist in the states of Arunachal Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Orissa. Tamil Nadu passed and repealed such a law in 2004. An anti–conversion bill passed by the Rajasthan State Legislative Assembly has yet to become law because the State Governor has returned it without signing it.