Chennai: Despite opposition by Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK), Congress, Communist Party of India (CPI) and Communist Party of India – Marxist (CPM) at the introduction stage, the Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Forcible Conversion of Religion Bill, 2002, was introduced in the Tamil Nadu Assembly on October 30.

The Bill, standing in the name of Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, was introduced by Finance Minister C Ponnaiyan, though Jayalalithaa was present in the House at the time of its introduction. The Bill seeks to replace the Ordinance which was issued by the Governor on October 5.

The Bill is likely to be taken up for discussion on October 31.

A statement of objects and reasons appended to the Bill says that reports had been received by the government that conversions from one religion to another were made by use of "force or allurement or by fraudulent means".

Bringing in a Legislation to prohibit such conversions would act as a "deterrent" against the "anti-social and vested interest groups exploiting innocent people belonging to the depressed classes", it said.

"It may also be useful to maintain public order and to nip in the bud the attempts by certain religious fundamentalists and subversive forces to create communal tension under the garb of religious conversion," it said.

When Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) member H Raja rose to support the Bill, Speaker Kalimuthu, in a lighter vein, said one could welcome it only when it was taken up for discussion.

PTI