Secretary and advocate of Sarva Hindu Samaj L Ishwar Rao said on Saturday that during Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Vishnudev Sai’s stay in Bastar, on Friday, in a meeting with the distinguished citizens, the group discussed the scourge of conversions in Bastar. They told the chief minister that the disturbing phenomenon was noticed mostly in the scheduled areas of Bastar in the last few years.
With the chief minister’s attention drawn to the settlement of the underprivileged section of Hindus, the group said that while the Chhattisgarh Freedom Bill 2006 was passed in the assembly in 2006, due to an objection lodged by the then-governor who refused to put his signature on the piece of legislation, it could not become a law. This was coming in the way of an effective control of religious conversions, the group told the chief minister.
Even during the Congress rule, stakeholders held discussions with the state authority about converting the bill into law or making other effective laws as soon as possible. The group told Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Sai that identifying the settlements of suspicious people in Bastar and taking action against them were equally important.
Advocate Rao told the media on Saturday that this was the first opportunity for the chief minister to communicate with the people of Bastar. Taking note of the long parleys of heads of society and organisations with the authority, the chief minister showed interest and eagerness in meeting all stakeholders to listen and understand their issues.
Chief Minister Sai reportedly expressed his government’s resolve towards the development of Bastar. He said that dialogue alone would pave the way towards addressing the issue. “This government initiative shows our seriousness towards good governance,” Sai reportedly said.
The Sarva Hindu Samaj expressed its gratitude to Chief Minister Sai, Chhattisgarh BJP president and MLA Kiran Dev, BJP district president Rupsingh Mandavi and other members of the party namely Srinivasan Rao Maddi, Dinesh Kashyap, Vidya Sharan Tiwari, Santosh Bafna, Sanjay Pandey, Vinayak Goyal who were present in the meeting, along with bureaucratic representatives of the district administration.
[…] Chhattisgarh CM appraised of scourge of conversion […]