Other States - Rajasthan   

Rajasthan Governor urged not to give assent to Bill

JAIPUR: Activist groups and representatives of minorities met Rajasthan Governor Shailendra Kumar Singh on Tuesday to request him not to give assent to the controversial Rajasthan Religious Freedom Bill, 2008, passed by the State Assembly the previous week.

The legislation, more stringent than any of the existing half a dozen Acts on the subject of religious conversions in the country, also violated the provisions of the Indian Constitution in many ways, they said. Oswald Lewis, Catholic Bishop of Jaipur, accompanied the delegation.

A Congress delegation, led by Pradesh Congress Committee president C. P. Joshi, had a separate meeting with the Governor on the Bill. It reportedly discussed the contentious role of Parliamentary Secretaries appointed by the Vasundhara Raje Government in the State as well with Mr. Singh.

In a memorandum, the activist groups reminded the Governor that a Bill -- Rajasthan Religious Freedom Bill, 2006 -- with the same preamble and objects and reasons, was pending with the President of India. Passing another Bill on the same subject was against the spirit of the Constitution and the powers vested with the President of the India and the Governor, they pointed out.

The delegation consisted of Father Raymond Coelho, chairperson of the Rajasthan Christian Fellowship, human rights advocate Ajay Jain, Nazimuddin, secretary, Jamaat-e-Islami-Hind, Sawai Singh of Rajasthan Samgra Sewa Sangh, Kavita Srivastava of PUCL and Vijay Goel, an activist on Dalit issues.

“It is clear that the BJP legislators, the Chief Minister and the Council of Ministers have no respect for the Indian Constitution and the office of the President of India,” the delegation, which sat with the Governor for an hour, said. The members later said Mr. Singh was very forthcoming in his views.

“The present Bill is, once again, an assault on the religious minorities in this State, violating the fundamental rights granted to the citizens under the Indian Constitution. This Bill exposes the agenda of the BJP of taking over of properties of the religious minorities. Under the provisions of the new Bill all those people and institutions will become offenders and their registrations cancelled on mere contemplation of conversion activity as mentioned in Section 4 (2)(a),” the memorandum pointed out.

The members said the ruling party in the State had been spearheading an anti-minority agenda throughout its past tenure and even went to the extent of violating Article 163 of the Indian Constitution which prevented the questioning of the decisions of the Governor.

During the process of passing the current Bill in the Assembly the treasury benches had openly questioned the former Governor, who now is the President of India, they observed.

In fact the PCC delegation in its meeting with the Governor highlighted that at least two Ministers -- Home Minister G. C. Kataria and Law Minister Ghanshyam Tiwari -- had criticized the then Governor, Pratibha Patil, for not giving assent to the previous Bill, during the discussions on the current Bill.

Both delegations pointed out to the Governor that it was violation of Article 200 and 201 of the Indian Constitution to pass another Bill when one was already pending with the President of India. Article 200 also explicitly stated that there was no time limit for granting the assent to any Bill.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Chaotic scenes in Rajasthan Assembly
Curfew eased in Chittaurgarh
Three killed, one injured in mishap
Three of family burnt alive
Rajasthan Governor urged not to give assent to Bill

Copyright © 2008, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu