PTI
NEW DELHI, DECEMBER 18
Deadlock in Rajya Sabha continued for the fourth day today as opposition kept demanding reply by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on a debate on religious conversions which the government steadfastly rejected. Though the Prime Minister was present in the House during the Question Hour, the proceedings were consumed by arguments between the opposition and treasury benches over procedures of a debate on the communal incidents in the country.
Thursday is a day when questions related to the portfolios held by the Prime Minister are listed for reply.
As the Opposition continued to press its demand leading to repeated adjournments, Leader of the House and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the government was ready to debate the issue immediately but asserted that Opposition cannot dictate who will reply from the government side and what will be the terms and conditions.
"In this very House the Prime Minister made a statement on request of opposition... Three days after the Prime Minister's statement, the House was not allowed to function...I repeat government's (offer). If they want (discussion), let it start just now," Jaitley said.
Ruling out a reply by the Prime Minister, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Venkiah Naidu said as per the rules the Home Minister will reply after the debate as the issue relates to his ministry.
But almost the entire Opposition insisted on reply by the Prime Minister only.
"The Prime Minister should reply," Sitaram Yechury (CPI-M) said, and got support from Congress members.
Sharad Yadav (JD-U) said since the Prime Minister is present, he should listen to views of members and then reply as there is "unease" outside as well as inside the House. Deputy Leader of Congress Anand Sharma said, "Opposition is serious to end the deadlock...The Prime Minister is a good speaker...He should reply."
As opposition members kept saying that serious problems have arisen in the country following forced conversions, Naidu said "country is quite and calm", but some people are trying to create commotion by raising this issue.
BSP leader Mayawati said the Prime Minister should reply as demanded by the opposition and government should not make it a "prestige issue".
On the conversion issue, Naidu said law and order was state government subject and they should take action against those who violate law.
As the opposition and treasury benches kept arguing with each other on the process of debate, Chairman Hamid Ansari adjourned the House for lunch, observing that there was no consensus on starting the debate.
Opposition members earlier wanted suspension of business to start debate but Ansari rejected it, saying proper notice should be given.
When the House met for the day, Congress and other opposition parties demanded presence of the Prime Minister in the House and his reply to the debate on the issue.
As proceedings continued to be stalled, government attacked opposition, saying it shows "arrogance of numbers." In the Rajya Sabha, ruling NDA is in minority.
Opposition members, however, persisted with their demand that proceedings be suspended and taking up the debate. The treasury benches, however, opposed this. With the stalemate continuing, Deputy Chairman P J Kurien adjourned the House till noon.
Anand Sharma (Cong) said by rejecting the Opposition demand, "the Government is being arrogant."
He said Opposition parties want the House to run but for that Prime Minister should come and reply to the debate.
Jaitley said Prime Minister coming to the House earlier and making a statement disapproving of a comment by a Union minister should have had a sobering effect.
He said the Lok Sabha was functioning normally and it was only Rajya Sabha which was being disrupted.
This, he said, reflected that "it is arrogance of numbers and not the arrogance of the government."
Yechury said Lok Sabha was functioning because of "tyranny of majority".
Congress has taken strong exception to the forcible conversion of Christians, Muslims and Dalits to Hinduism by Hindu rightwing party the Bharatya Janata Party (BJP).
Chairman of Political Affairs Committee (PAC) and former president of Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC), K V Pusa warned BJP of country heading for disintegration due to its anti-people policy. His statement has come against the backdrop of reports of BJP and its affiliated outfits trying to organise a mass conversion of Christians and Muslims on Christmas day. BJP is an offshoot of Hindu fundamentalist groups like RSS and VHP.
Pusa also accused BJP of sowing seeds of discord and disunity among the sections of people in the country adding that the country which propagates secularism is under threat from the communal forces like BJP.
The Congress leader then questioned the silence of state unit of BJP even as Christians have been persecuted, church burned down, Christian religious places desecrated and contemplating mass conversion of Christians and Muslims on Christmas day. “I want to ask the BJP in Nagaland to come out on BJP’s stand on secularism,” he added. He cautioned that state unit of BJP should also be held responsible for the ongoing persecution of Christians in the country.
The state unit of BJP has remained silent over the burning of a church recently in Delhi and reports of mass conversion of Christians and Muslims on Christmas day and anti-Christians policies of the central Government led by BJP.
The Indian constitution grants religious freedom to its citizens but some Indian states have enacted stringent laws against conversions that are carried out by force or allurement. An affiliate of the BJP has asked for donations to fund an event in the northern city of Aligarh to convert Christians and Muslims to Hinduism this Christmas.
BJP is the major threat to Indiaâs secularism, he said.
Pusa said those who were converted were poor rag-pickers from a slum and many of them had been promised food ration cards if they attended the ceremony. They had no idea they were going to be converted to Hinduism.
Religious conversions have become a flashpoint of criticism for the BJP since it came to power in May 26 last. Pusa said Hindu hard-line groups are flexing their muscles under the BJP government, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The Congress leader said the constitution grants equal rights to citizens, but right-wing Hindu nationalist groups have become more assertive since the BJP came to power.
The former Congress president said the movement to forcibly convert minorities, mainly Christians, Muslims and Dalits to Hinduism, is being spearheaded by offshoots of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) such as the Bajrang Dal and VHP, which have been implicated in some of the worst massacres of minorities in recent Indian history. In the context of the rapid increase in violence and a sustained hate movement against minorities, the forced conversion drive is another effort to undermine India's secular fabric, he said.
Pusa said Centre’s deceit on this issue is further evidence that the new administration led by the BJP, itself an offshoot of the RSS, is vigorously pursuing the Hindutva agenda that seeks to restructure India as a Hindu nation where minorities are relegated to the status of second-class citizens.
In the meantime, Pusa flayed the BJP led Government of witch-hunting of prominent women leaders in the country at a time when political parties are talking of women empowerment. The Congress PAC Chairman said BJP was merely talking of women empowerment when it has indulged in witch-hunting of women political leaders like Chief Minister of West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee, former chief minister of Tamil Nadu, J. Jayalalita and Congress president, Sonia Gandhi. He said with unsubstantiated mere allegations women political leaders have been hunted down to gain political points. “This type of malicious political manoeuvre will be accepted by the people of the country,” the Congress leader said.
He accused BJP of not only destabilizing women empowerment but unity and integrity of the country is gravely under threat.
Reacting to Nagaland Speaker Assembly Chotisuh Sazo’s rebuttal to Governor P B Acharya’s statement that politicians who are in power are corrupt, Pusa said Governor’s assertion cannot be fully rejected going by the corruption in the government. “To some extend what Governor had said is right,” he added. He said Speaker should have taken note of Governor’s statement rather than refutation as what the latter had said cannot be taken lightly.
Over 70 Hindus have been allegedly converted to Christianity in Uttar Pradesh's Bahraich district. While district officials are probing the matter, a suspect from an outfit called India Hope Center has been arrested, police said.
A district official said office bearers of the outfit are active in the Kamalpuri village and that they were trying to allure villagers into accepting Christianity.
However, District Magistrate Satyendra Kumar told a news agency on Thursday that it has not been confirmed if the conversions took place.
"We have send officials to the village and are trying to ascertain the veracity of the charges," he added.
Kumar said the district administration was vigilant about such issues. Intelligence officials, however, said the India Hope Center activities "had picked up in the area" for the past few months, especially after the floods.
"They had distributed relief material to the villagers and it is feared that in lieu of this they tried to allure the villagers into embracing Christianity," a police official said.
Police said they are looking for the India Hope Center head. Sources said that the 'baptism' of villagers Lallan, Bhaniram, Amarjeet, Happy, Shyamlal, Jawahar Lal, Benchan Prasad and many others was done by Bishop Mahendra Kumar.
The converts were also seen wearing crosses but they have now gone underground for fear of police, a local said.
Meanwhile, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) demanded a thorough probe into the episode.
"It is amazing and disturbing that the chief minister is mum on this issue while he does not miss any chance to score political points when the issue is about Muslims being converted to Hinduism," said Vijaya Bahadur Pathak, state spokesman of the BJP.
Meanwhile, a series of 'Ghar Wapasi' (home coming) events are lined up for Thursday in Allahabad and Varanasi. Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) leaders Ashok Sinhal and Sumeru seer Narendranand Saraswati will camp in Varanasi to make the events a success.
Advocating a stern law to curb all religious conversions, Singhal said that he will not disclose the event venue for now and would proceed with the home coming events.
A home department official told IANS that district administrations across the state were being sensitised on the matter.
Delhi Archbishop today said the Christian community was not in favour of any anti-conversion legislation and called the 'Ghar Wapsi' campaign of certain RSS-linked outfits a "threat" to peace and harmony.
"Conversion is a matter of choice and is guaranteed by the Constitution. Why do we need a separate bill for ensuring 'Freedom of religion' or banning conversions? Christians are not in favour of any such law," Archbishop Anil Couto told reporters here.
"The fact that people are being offered Below Poverty Line (BPL) cards and other privileges within the domain of government adds to our fear that these elements enjoy patronage from certain quarters," he said.
Under fire from Opposition parties for allowing RSS and its affiliates to push ahead with their conversion and "ghar wapsi" campaigns, the government had last week told Lok Sabha that it was in favour of anti-conversion laws in all states and at the Centre too.
Five states including Arunachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Odisha — currently have anti-conversion laws. John Dayal, former National President, All India Catholic Union alleged that the proposal for a law against conversions was targeted at minorities.
He also said that the Christians are disappointed on the government's move to 'enforce' Good Governance Day celebrations on December 25, when Christmas is celebrated.
The Delhi Archbishop said that they had submitted a memorandum to Union Home Minister Rajanath Singh and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, "listing the discriminations" being faced by the Christian community across the country.
