Opinion

Dog-whistling on the anti–religious conversion bill

How conversion debates, selective outrage, and legal activism shape perceptions of religious freedom in India

December 25, 2025

Why the Church alone is fighting India’s anti-conversion laws

It is a universal truth that the tiger can never hide its stripes, however hard it may try. This has come true in the case of the Christian community in India despite the claims made by the bishops, archbishops, and cardinals that the Church was not interested in any kind of religious conversion. Not a single day passes in India without reports of the evangelization of hundreds of people by the Church leaders.

The PGurus had reported about the alarming rate of religious conversions happening across India on a daily basis. A prominent BJP leader said the other day that evangelists are into harvesting the souls of hundreds of thousands of people in states like Punjab, Haryana, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Jharkhand, and Chhattisgarh. “The situation in South India is no different, and the proselytizers are running amok in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, forcing the gullible to the ‘path of Jesus,” said the leader on condition of anonymity.

The Operation India project is part of the Vatican’s Dominus Jesus mission, which envisages planting the cross in Asia. Though 12 states ruled by the BJP have enacted the anti-religious conversion Act, the Catholic Bishops Council of India (CBCI), the supreme body of the Catholic Church, has approached the Supreme Court with a writ petition to declare the Act unconstitutional, illegal, against Constitutional Rights and Fundamental Liberty.

The petition filed by the legal cell of the CBCI charges that the anti-religious conversion bill enacted by Rajasthan and other states is draconian in nature. There is no provision anywhere in the Indian Constitution that grants the Church or any other religion, including the Hindus, that states that they have the freedom to convert people from one religion to another by force, coercion, or offering pecuniary benefits.

The allegation by the CBCI that the law requires individuals to inform the district magistrate before converting, followed by a declaration that he/she intends to convert to another religion by displaying a notice in the display board of the DM’s office, undermines personal liberties guaranteed by the Constitution.

The Rajasthan Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act 2025 states that a person violating the Act and forcefully converting people would be sentenced to 20 years imprisonment and a fine of Rs.10 lakh. An illegal mass conversion could lead to the offender facing life imprisonment and a fine of Rs.25 lakh. Repeat offenders can be sentenced to life imprisonment and a fine of up to Rs.50 lakh.

The law has also made it a crime to use marriage as a means of conversion. Persons found to be converting a girl with the promise of marriage face a jail term of 14 years.

The CBCI contends that the legislation could be weaponized against Christians and their institutions. The CBCI demands that the Supreme Court declare that religious freedom and personal liberty are under threat in India, and the Act should be declared ultra vires and unconstitutional.[1]

The evangelists employ all kinds of techniques to proselytize. When J Jayalalithaa, the then Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, got a legislation banning religious conversion enacted in the legislature, hell broke loose, and the then Pope John Paul questioned the propriety of such a legislation. Jayalalithaa, in her usual style, retorted and told the Pope not to interfere in India’s internal matters. What happened is that she lost the election held in 2006 as the Christians voted en masse for the DMK.

The allegation by the Church and evangelists is that the anti-religious conversion Act is against the rights granted by the Constitution. No such right is granted by the Constitution. In the section dealing with Freedom of Religion, Article 25 states that Freedom of Conscience and free profession, practice and propagation of religion, (1) subject to public order, morality and health, and to the other provisions of this part, all persons are equally entitled to freedom of conscience and the right freely to profess, practice and propagate religion. Sub-section (2) of the same Article states that nothing in this article shall affect the operation of any existing law or prevent the State from making any law-(a) regulating or restricting any economic, financial, political or other secular activity which may be associated with religious practice. Article 26 grants freedom to manage religious affairs, while Article 27 is associated with freedom as to payment of taxes for the promotion of any particular religion. Article 28 says that no religious instruction shall be provided in any educational institution wholly maintained out of State funds. Article 29 deals with the protection of the interests of minorities, while Article 30 is the right of minorities to establish and administer educational institutions.

There is no reference of any kind that grants Christians the right to convert or proselytize people. Interestingly, it is only the Church that is fighting this law tooth and nail, while other religions are silent about conversion. Though there are minority communities like Buddhists, Jains, Zoroastrians, Jews, Sikhs, and Dawoodi Bohra functioning in India, none of them have made any charges against the anti- religious conversion Act. It is strange that the Church is the only religious institution that makes hue and cry about this legislation, even as they claim that they are being targeted by the majority communities. It may also be remembered that the Church was the only denomination that came out and agitated across the country against the Freedom of Religious Bill 1978, introduced by O P Tyagi as a private bill in the Lok Sabha during the tenure of Morarji Desai-led Janata Party government in 1978. This agitation led to the fall of the Desai government as the likes of George Fernandez, Madhu Limaye, Rabi Ray, etc., walked out of the government, and the party protested against the Bill. Mother Teresa, the self-styled saint of Calcutta (today Kolkata), too came out and sat in fast against the Bill. But Prime Minister Desai was adamant that the Bill should be passed in the Houses and declined to entertain pleas to junk the bill.[2]

Though our historians claim that the Janata Party government fell because of internal fights and the ambition of Charan Singh to become the prime minister, it is far from the truth. Though Charan Singh had set his eyes on the PM’s chair, he would not have pulled down the government. But the situation turned upside down, and Chaudhuri Saheb was taken for a ride by the Congress, which offered him unconditional support in his bid for the top job. There was resentment among the secular, socialist, and liberal elements against the dual membership of leaders like A B Vajpayee and L K Advani in the Janata Party and the RSS. There were no issues that could not have been resolved through talks. It was to cover up the intention of the Church that they made Charan Singh a scapegoat.

The Christians have a powerful ecosystem in India, and the evangelists make hay while the sun shines. Even minute issues are blown out of proportion and portrayed as an attack on Christians. The “assault” on Christians reported widely in the media is just a figment of imagination. The Church (various sects) has an ecosystem in place. News portals, tabloids, and even 24/7 TV channels are unleashing falsehoods after falsehoods, accusing the Hindus of attacking nuns, priests, vergers, and graveyard diggers. But a thorough probe will disclose that there was no such incident. A New Delhi-based propagandist journalist is the one who plays the role of the modern-day Dhritarashtra bent on annihilating the Hindus and Sanatan Dharma.

This propagandist is the brain behind setting up news portals with which many Delhi-based journalists have an unofficial tie-up. They churn out cock and bull stories about the alleged attacks on evangelists and proselytizers. This was their modus operandi as they aired and disseminated false reports alleging attacks on nuns at Jhabua in Madhya Pradesh and Jhajjar in Haryana. A close scrutiny will reveal that the propagandist editor (who masquerades as a political observer during channel debates) is pursuing the shoot and scoot policy. You fire one accusation from Madhya Pradesh, and by the time it is proved to be fake, take the next shot from Haryana. One will not be able to make out the location from where this bandicoot fires another barrage of falsehoods. The reports appearing in portals like Catholic Connect and UCA News (Union of Catholic Asian News) make it to the offices of the United Nations, the US State Department, and organizations like Amnesty International, the self-proclaimed guardians of equality, freedom, and liberty.

When these marauders accuse that the freedom mentioned in the Constitution and human rights have been violated, those who are not familiar with the Indian Constitution simply swallow the news and conclude that religious zealots rule the roost in India.

Last day, TV channels and a section of the newspapers (especially the ones owned by various Christian factions, Malayala Manorama, Deepika, etc.) flashed as the lead news attack on a hapless Christian woman by a BJP local leader at Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh. K C Venugopal, the political guru of Rahul Gandhi, was heard telling TV channels that Prime Minister Modi should tender a public apology to the Christians for the incident. Ratnesh Sonkar, Jabalpur BJP president, told PGurus that there was a brawl between two ladies, and one was a BJP local leader. “Though it was a small incident, we have issued a show-cause notice to the BJP leader for the incident. No newspapers in our state reported this incident as this is not worth reporting,’ said Sonkar. All such allegations fall under the category of dog whistling, and this is done to tarnish the image of India everywhere.

The missionaries and evangelists play a lot of games using the weapons in their arsenal. Of late, proselytization has become a big-time business as the Vatican has declared its mission to “reach the unreached” on a war footing. Religion is sold like any other consumer durable. Designations like bishop, archbishop, cardinals are bestowed on evangelists to create a sense of fear among the hapless Hindus. These evangelists enjoy special “unofficial” privileges in hospitals, police stations, and all government offices. There were instances of Christian priests committing murder, walking free from courts despite the prosecution proving with facts and evidence their role in the murder. More of it on another occasion.

Meanwhile, please note a report that has appeared in Catholic Connect:

Patna, December 2, 2025 — Major superiors, community leaders, and priests from across the Archdiocese of Patna gathered at Nav Jyoti Niketan for a two-day Patna Missionary Meet aimed at renewing missionary zeal, strengthening collaboration, and setting pastoral priorities for evangelization and service in the region[3].

To be continued…

Note:
1. Text in Blue points to additional data on the topic.
2. The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of PGurus.

Reference:

[1] CBCI approaches Supreme Court against Rajasthan’s anti-conversion law – Dec 10, 2025, Madhyamam

[2] When Parliamentarian OP Tyagi made efforts to stop illegal religious conversion – Jan 14, 2023, Organiser

[3] Patna Missionary Meet Sets Renewed Priorities For Evangelisation – Dec 02, 2025, Catholic Connect

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