Metropolitan Archbishop of Bengaluru Peter Machado on Monday appealed to Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai to drop the anti-conversion bill and said the community leaders will look into allegations of 36 instances of forced conversions.
Addressing a press conference here, he cautioned the government against playing into the hands of small fundamentalist groups disturbing the harmony of the society.
The archbishop said the Christian religious leaders were against forced or fraudulent conversion. "Such a law will not only affect the constitutionally guaranteed freedom but is also arbitrary as it targets the Christian community," he said, adding that Christianity doesn't accept any conversion that happens by force.
He said the present laws were equipped to deal with such allegations. "If there are forced conversions, let the police take action. About 12 years ago, we had attacks on churches and Bommai stood in our support as Janata Dal leader. Today, we request him to look into this issue," he said.
To a question, he said there have been allegations that 36 instances of forced conversion have taken place. "Most of these incidents are baseless. Still, we will look into these matters and see if there is any truth in such allegations," he said.
He, however, refused to comment on the government's survey of churches citing that the matter was in the court.
Margaret Alva, secretary-general of Indian National Congress, said the population of the Christian community has come down and questioned the rationality of the fear of mass conversion.
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