After a Karnataka officer revealed no forced conversions took place, he was stripped of his title, post and was transferred!
The BJP government in Karnataka persists in making allegations of a rise in forced conversions accusing Christians of forcefully converting Hindus. Thus, an official survey was conducted in one of the districts that have been subject to these allegations to prove the validity of the claim.
Thippeswamy, a Tahasildar who surveyed illegal forced conversions in two villages of Hosadurga Taluk in Chitradurga district reveals that no forced conversions have taken place, and people of the villages voluntarily attend the Christian prayer meets.
As his claims via the study did not tally with the governmental claims, he has been stripped of his official title and post until further orders and transferred!
He said, “I have been transferred after the survey. No post has been allotted to me at the moment. I conducted the survey after several allegations of forced conversions in two villages. But when I enquired with the people, they said they were not lured with any benefits and converted out of their own will,” the Tahasildar said.
Disregarding the survey, Prakash, the official spokesperson of the BJP in Karnataka, has said that the party continues to stand by the allegations of forced conversions by the Christian community.
“Gulihatti Shekar, who is an MLA, his mother herself was converted and she converted back to Hinduism. There are several instances of conversions taking place in those areas. An MLA certainly won’t make such allegations without verified information. So, how the report by the Tahasildar has been prepared and where he enquired or investigated is not clear,” the BJP spokesperson said.
This investigation was ordered by the Tahasildar after Hosadurga MLA Gulihatti Chandrashekar made an allegation on the floor of the house that nearly 20,000 people in his constituency had converted to Christianity. He claimed his mother was one of them.
“The Tahasildar is a part of the government. In his report, he made it very clear that there are no forcible conversions. Hosadurga MLA Gulihatti Chandrashekar is saying that his mother was forcibly converted. He has to explain why his mother has converted to Christianity. He owes an explanation. We may have to draw an inference that there is a political motivation. We will oppose this (anti-conversion) bill in the assembly,” said V.S. Ugrappa, Congress’ state spokesperson.
Despite investigations revealing no forced conversions in the two villages, and with no proper documentation to back the claims made by the Karnataka government, the BJP is adamant to place the anti-conversion bill by next week for discussion in the assembly.
The hotly debated proposed anti-conversion Bill that the state government plans to introduce in the assembly is expected to have penal provisions, and it may also insist that those who wish to convert to another faith file an application before the Deputy Commissioner two months prior.
People willing to convert to other religions are likely to lose the religion of their origin and facilities or benefits attached with it, including reservations. However, one is likely to receive the benefits entitled to in the religion he or she converts to. Congress has opposed the bill, calling it “unconstitutional” and detrimental to the state’s interests.
The backlash of the anticonversion bill is that the extremist Hindus will use this bill to normalize violence against Christians as is already occurring with serial attacks on churches raging across different parts of India and there are a recorded 300 attacks on churches just in 2021 where radical fanatics have been emboldened by the government’s plan to enact the anti-conversion law and Christian gathering, including church meetings, worship services are being bombarded, labeling it down as conversion when no such event was happening.
Ironically, when mobs storm into churches, start beating up Christians and vandalizing churches, the police instead of controlling the mobs and ensuring services are held are telling Christians to go home! The situation is getting virulent and Christmas is anticipated to be stormy, with no protection from the government. After all, a government officer for telling the truth will get stripped of his job so the situation is very precarious in India.