The Chhattisgarh BJP government has stepped up its action against religious conversion being carried out by NGOs using foreign funding. Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai announced an investigation on Friday to trace the source of funding of these NGOs.
According to a report in Nai Dunia, around 153 NGOs are registered under the Foreign Contributions Regulations Act (FCRA). Out of these, 52 have reportedly declared themselves to be associated with the Christian community before the Registrar of Firms and Societies. Central and state investigative agencies have started investigating the activities and financial transactions of all the NGOs receiving foreign aid. The activities of these NGOs that were formed for health, education, and social work purposes were found to be suspicious. Most of these FCRA-registered NGOs have reportedly selected tribal areas for work.
Most of the NGOs have selected tribal areas for work
As per the report, 9 out of 19 FCRA-registered institutions in Bastar and 15 out of 18 such institutions in Jashpur are being run by Christian missionaries. In Baster, conflict has been going on between Christian and tribal communities over graves. Of late, the Jashpur area has been in the limelight for Christian conversions. This area has the maximum number of institutions being run by Christian missionaries in the state. Moreover, the highest number of Christian conversions have been reported from the Jashpur district.
Around 35 per cent of the population in the Jashpur district is estimated to have been converted. Notably, an RTI application in March 2024 revealed that 210 people legally converted to Christianity in the district and none of them is alive. On the other hand, more than 22.5 per cent (1.89 lakh) of people in the Jashpur district declared themselves as Christians in the 2011 census report. Now, this number has reached 3 lakh. This is the reason that the Chief Minister who comes from a tribal background has expressed concern over these conversions.
Government planning to introduce anti-conversion legislation
As per a report in Dainik Bhaskar, the Chhattisgarh government is likely to introduce a Conversion Amendment Bill in the budget session of the Assembly. The new legislation will be called Chhattisgarh Religious Freedom Act. The draft of the legistaion has reportedly been prepared after studyding the laws of three states. As per the new law, prior information will have to be given before conversion. Since the formations of the state, the Conversion Amendment Bill has been introduced in the state Assembly twice but has not been cleared.
According to the report, the Bill criminalises illegal conversion of minors, women and members of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes. For volation, it prescribes a punishment of minimum 2 years and maximum 10 years imprisonment. A fine of minimum Rs 25000 has can also be imposed. Besides, if someone is found duilty of carrying out illegal mass convsersion, the punishment is minimum 3 years and maximum 10 years imprisonment and a fine of up to Rs 50,000. The legislation also provides for compesation to the victims of illegal religious conversion. The court can grant up to Rs 5 lakh compensation to a victim. The burden of proving the legality of the conversion would lie on the person carrying out the conversion and on the one getting converted as per the new law.
BJP MP from Raipur, Brijmohan Aggarwal, reportedly informed the state assembly that around 34 cases were filed against religious conversion during the Congress government. Some BJP leader claim that the cases were much more than this. Congress leaders in the state claimed that the cases of religious conversion rose between 2003 and 2011. They further claimed that during the Raman Singh-led BJP govenment in the state, 80 thousand families were converted.
