Union Minister of Food, Public Distribution and Consumer Affairs and lJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan said there should not be any ban on conversion if it is not forced.
In his first reaction on the raging controversy over the conversion of Muslims and Christians at some places as well as several Mahadalit people converting to Christianity in Bodh Gaya last week, Paswan said here on Saturday that there is already a legal provision which treats forcible conversion a criminal offence.
“Babasaheb Ambedkar had also converted to Buddhism on his own and nobody ever said he did wrong,” said Paswan and claimed that the Central Government has nothing to do with the conversion issue. PM Narendra Modi never talked on temple construction in Ayodhya or referred to the Uniform Civil Code or Article 370 but always concentrated on development and empowering the poor, he said. The lJP chief who aligned with the NDA just before May 2014 lok Sabha polls pooh-poohed the move for unity among Janata Parivar and said it would not be a smooth affair and the two leaders Nitish Kumar and lalu Prasad would end up attacking and hurting each other.
“I have worked with both of them and who can know them better than me. They will indulge in ensuring defeat of the candidates of JD(U) and RJD despite a so-called merger,” said Paswan and added that when his lJP was in alliance with the RJD, lalu worked many of his candidates openly in 2009 lok Sabha election. He alleged that Nitish and lalu are only power hungry and desperate. “When floods come, all types of creatures huddled together to escape the fury. Nitish and lalu are facing a similar situation. But it does not mean that the fury of the flood will harm them,” he added.
Praising CM Jitan Ram Manjhi, the lJP supremo said Nitish was not allowing him to work and heaping insult on the person who belongs to Mahadalit society. “Manjhi is a better person and politician as compared to Nitish and lalu,” he said.