New Delhi: Supreme Court reprimanded advocate P Wilson representing Tamil Nadu government. Coming down hard on conversions in Tamil Nadu, the Supreme Court has slammed the state government asking it to not to give political colour to the serious issue.
“….Do not convert the Court proceeding into something else by bringing politics into the matter. We are concerned with the entire country. Don’t make it political by saying the court is targeting against one state. If it is happening in your state, it is bad. If not, good. Do not make it political. This is a very serious matter…,” pointed out a bench of Justices M R Shah and C T Ravikumar.
Politics should be left to the political parties. Here we are concerned with a pure legal issue.
Supreme Court
The apex court remarked so after advocate P Wilson, appearing for Tamil Nadu, called the petition a “politically motivated” PIL. He further stated that no such conversions are taking place in Tamil Nadu.
The court then sought the assistance of Attorney General R Venkataramani on advocate Ashwini Upadhyay’s plea. Ashwini has sought directions to the Centre and states to take stringent steps to control fraudulent religious conversions. The court has set February 7 as the next date of hearing.
Missionaries in TN
Earlier, the SC had emphasised that “forced” religious conversions are “very dangerous” and may “affect the security of the nation and freedom of religion and conscience of the citizens. The court had directed the centre government to stop religious conversion and make “very serious and sincere efforts” to tackle the issue. It is an open secret that Tamil Nadu is a den of Christian Missionaries. The fraudulent Aryan-Dravidian divide is also a product of Christian evangelists.
The petitioner has sought a declaration that fraudulent religious conversion by “intimidation, threatening, deceivingly luring through gifts and monetary benefits” offends Articles 14, 21, 25 of the Constitution. Will it bring any respite from menace of missionaries in India, especially in Tamil Nadu? Only time will tell.
