The Tamil Nadu government has made its stand clear in the debate on the anti-conversion law in the Supreme Court. The DMK government headed by Chief Minister MK Stalin told the apex court that such laws could be used against minorities.
At the same time, the government also said that if a missionary is propagating Christianity and spreading it, then there is nothing illegal in it.
Recently, a petition was filed in the apex court on behalf of Advocate Ashwini Upadhyay, demanding a CBI inquiry against forced conversions and drafting of an anti-conversion law. Here, the Tamil Nadu government says that no case of forced conversion has come to light in the state in many years.
The affidavit filed by the Stalin government said, “There is a high risk of anti-conversion laws being used against minorities and there is no data on convictions under different anti-conversion laws of states.” Citizens have the freedom to follow whatever religion they want. The state government, quoting Article 25, said that the propagation of Christianity by missionaries should not be seen as against the law.
However, the Tamil Nadu government also made it clear that if they are against things like morality, health, then it should be taken seriously.
The state government says that the constitution allows any person to propagate his religion. The Court was told, ‘As such the Constitution cannot prevent a person from converting to a religion of his choice.’ The government said that under Article 21 and Article 25, citizens have the right to practice and propagate their religion. Along with this, he has told the responsibility of the government to protect it.
The affidavit said that no fear, intimidation, allurement or superstition is used, then any citizen has the right to propagate his religion to other people. He has called the balance between publicity and public order the responsibility of the government.
The Tamil Nadu government has demanded the cancellation of the PIL filed by Upadhyay. The government claims that the petitioners are associated with the Bharatiya Janata Party and are trying to politicize the matter.
