Union Home Minister Amit Shah while addressing a massive gathering on Saturday during BJP’s ‘Badlav Rally’ in Moga stated that the very first bill that the BJP would bring into the Punjab legislative assembly after the party comes to power would be related to the issue of religious conversions.
Speaking at a rally, while wearing a saffron turban, the Union Home Minister Amit Shah stated that the BJP government would bring a law on religious conversions as the very first legislation after the party came to power in Punjab. The Home Minister furthermore reiterated the party’s earlier stance on the issue of the drug menace and stated that the BJP government would make Punjab a ‘drug-free state’ within two years.
Targeting the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government led by Bhagwant Singh Mann in Punjab, Shah alleged that the state was “drenched in corruption”, Shah adds that Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann had become a “pilot” for party leader Arvind Kejriwal and also made a claim that leaders from Delhi were controlling the state administration.
The issue of religious conversions has also recently been raised by some groups in Punjab. At a press conference in Jalandhar, Tejasvi Minhas had claimed that around 65,000 pastors were operating in the state and engaging in conversions through inducement, coercion and alleged miracle cures, citing violations of the Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act, 1954 and provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. According to the Minhas, “The 2011 Census recorded the Christian population at 1.26 per cent (around 3.48 lakh people), which has risen to nearly 15 per cent, pointing to large-scale conversions in the last decade.”
