New Delhi, Feb. 20: A.C. Michael of United Christian Forum (UCF) has termed the claim of Brijmohan Agarwal, Minister for Religious Trusts and Endowments of the Chhattisgarh state government as false and baseless, and asked him to either prove his claim on conversion or tender an apology.
“The Chhattisgarh Freedom of Religion Act 1968 has been in existence for more than 50 years now and there is no record of any conviction under the law despite it being stringent as the offence in the act is cognizable in nature,” UCF said in a press statement here Tuesday.
“This contradicts the statement by the Minister on illegal conversions happening. Perhaps it had never been used since there was no hate propaganda to view charitable acts as a mode of prompting conversions. Freedom of Religion Acts are already in place in 11 states in India and till today not a single conviction of forceful or fraudulent means of conversions in any court of law in the country,” it added.
“We, the United Christian Forum, demand the minister to come up with evidence to prove his claims or present those people who have been forcefully converted. If not, the minister should unequivocally apologize to the nation for maligning the Christian community,” said A.C Michael.
“Healthcare and educational institutions run by the Christian community are nothing new. This is an age-old practice. Moreover, the Christian community has contributed immensely towards the upliftment of the poor and underprivileged in the State of Chhattisgarh. Acknowledged by nobody less than the Prime Minister of our country, Mr. Narendra Modi at various occasions including recently held Christmas diplomacy lunch hosted by PM himself. Such false allegations by a person of authority will only cause division in the society and disturb communal harmony,” added Michael.
