Anti-conversion bill: Bommai says ‘Full opportunity for debate’
As the anti-conversion bill was tabled in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly on Tuesday amid stiff opposition from the Congress, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said that there is full opportunity for debate when the bill will be taken up for discussion.
Notably, the “Karnataka Protection of Right to Freedom of Religion Bill, 2021” provides for the protection of the right to freedom of religion and prohibition of unlawful conversion from one religion to another by misrepresentation, force, undue influence, coercion, allurement or by any fraudulent means.
Many Christian bodies have opposed the bill, stating that it was against the Constitution and an attack on the secular fabric of the country. The bill proposes imprisonment up to 10 years for forced religious conversion.
Speaking to media persons in Belagavi on Tuesday, Bommai said, “There is full opportunity for debate in the Assembly when it will be taken up for discussion. They (Opposition) were not present in the House when the Bill was presented in the House. This is not the government`s fault.”