Click to play videoNew Delhi: Rajasthan Assembly passed a fresh anti-conversion bill amid protests from the Opposition on Thursday. The bill has two major modifications.
Rajasthan is the sixth state trying to pass an anti-conversion law after Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Gujarat, Arunachal Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh.
The bill requires a signature of the Governor before it can become a law.
The bill has been passed just months before Rajasthan goes to the polls and is being seen as an attempt to woo the Hindu vote by the ruling BJP.
The opposition also objected to Kataria and Law Minister G S Tiwari's remarks against Patil and demanded that Deputy Speaker R N Vishnoi protect the dignity of the highest office.
Interestingly, the BJP government in neighbouring Gujarat had recently withdrawn a similar legislation after it was returned by the state Governor.
"Whether Patil had made any suggestions, objections, or rejected it is not known to the government. Whether the bill was sent to the President through the Home Department officially is also not known. Hence, the bill has been taken up again," Kataria said.
He said the bill was necessary to maintain communal harmony and to curb conversion activities in tribal areas of Dungarpur, Banswara, Udaipur, Kota and Ajmer district.
Opposition MLAs were further irked when Tiwari said "I am telling the House that the then governor took the wrong way of action on the bill".
(With PTI inputs)
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