Former MLA J R Lobo condemned the directions of the Karnataka State legislative committee on Backward Classes and Minorities Welfare to submit a report on the activities of Christian missionaries and Christian institutions in the state. The committee in its recent meeting had even directed the committee members to visit Churches on Sunday.
The decision of the Committee does not come under its purview. The legislative committee should work on the welfare of the backward classes and minorities and not engage in policing acts, said Lobo, who had served as the president of the committee for three years from 2015 to 2018,
The decision of the committee has an ulterior political motive to mislead the people on the activities of the Christian missionaries. There are enough laws to check the forcible conversion in India and the BJP government can act against those involved in forcible conversion using various sections of the law. The BJP is engaged in divide and rule policy and is trying to divide the society, he alleged.
Christians are peace-loving people and have been engaged in serving society since the beginning. “If all the Christians are engaged in conversion, then all the beneficiaries of Christian missionaries in the field of education, health care and social service sectors should have been converted by now in the country. Christianity is not a new religion in the country. The religion had entered Kerala in the first century and Mangaluru in 1,500 AD. In spite of it, the Christian population in the country is only 3.5 per cent while in Karnataka it is only 2.5 per cent, he said.
Further, Lobo sought to know whether there was conversion when a large number of Dalits joined Buddhism in the country and when the Lingayat community came into existence. “Christians are used as soft target for the political conspiracy of the BJP. The constitutional provisions do not restrict anyone from professing any religion or opting for the faith of their choice,” he said.
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