Rajasthan Anti-Conversion Bill generates heat

The controversial Anti-Conversion Bill comes up for discussion and passage in the Rajasthan Assembly on Thursday.

In April 2006, the Rajasthan government had passed the Anti-Conversion Bill but it is yet to get the assent of the President.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government says the bill will help check rampant religious conversion.

Opposition Congress, civil rights groups and minority organisations say it violates the right to freedom of religion and the bill is once again generating heat in the desert state.

"In the election year, the government is bringing this bill clearly to make it a tool for targeting minority organisations and to polarize the state communally," Sayyam Lodha, Congress MLA, says.

The Vasundhara Raje government in 2006 first introduced the Anti-Conversion Bill but it was returned unsigned by the then governor Pratibha Patil, who is now the President on India.

When the government returned the bill to the Governor without amendments, she held it back for almost a year before forwarding it to the then President APJ Abdul Kalam in June 2007.

Now, when Pratibha herself is the President, the Raje government has brought a fresh bill in the Assembly.

Only slightly different from the earlier one, the bill makes it mandatory for those wanting to convert to get the go ahead from the District Collector at least a month in advance.

The government has also rejected all criticism against the bill.

"The earlier bill is awaiting assent from the President but the Constitution does not stop us from formulating a new law. We've consulted various legal experts and only after that we've brought this bill," Rajendra Rathore, Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, says.

But as protests continue, the bill might only further polarise an already deeply divided electorate.