Amid voices advocating stringent anti-conversion law in the country, All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary Digvijay Singh said here on Sunday that instead of anti-conversion law, India needs a ‘Freedom of Religion Act’.
“Instead of anti-conversion law we need ‘freedom of religion Act’,” Singh told reporters in an informal chat. His statement came at a time when Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) have been advocating for strong anti-conversion law following a nationwide political row over instances of conversions and RSS and VHP’s ‘Ghar Wapsi’ campaign. Singh said he was averse to conversion by force or inducement and these two things should encompass freedom of religion Act.
The former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister said that a campaign is being run in the country propagating the fact that Muslim population would surpass the Hindus’ count by 2060, which, he said was incorrect.Singh said many organisations have been engaged in sectarianism since the country’s partition despite the fact that Hinduism has nothing to do with religion. “Equality of all religions is our constitutional heritage. Every person has the fundamental right to practice his religion and propagate about it. But the way efforts are being made to divide the country in the name of Hindutva and religion, it can only keep alive