Christian minority leaders and human rights advocates met in the southern state of Karnataka in India on Oct. 29, demanding the immediate repeal of the contentious “anti-conversion” law. 

At a joint press conference in Bengaluru, the capital of Karnataka state, prominent Christian and Muslim leaders called on the current Indian National Congress government to fulfill its electoral promise to scrap the “Karnataka Protection of Right to Freedom of Religion Act, 2022.” 

They also demanded the reversal of strict cattle-slaughter bans and urged the state to implement robust mechanisms to curb rampant hate speech. 

The delegation was led by the Most Rev. Peter Machado, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Bangalore, and Mohammed Yahya Damudi, convener of the Karnataka Rajya Muslim Okkoota, a prominent regional coalition. 

Karnataka passed the anti-conversion law in 2022 under a previous Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) administration, amid intense civil society protests.

Although a secular government subsequently unseated the BJP after promising to restore minority protections, the administration has hesitated to formally repeal the legislation, drawing sharp criticism from the advocates who helped elect it. 

Broken Promises 

The Christian and Muslim spiritual and community leaders demanded the ruling Congress government fulfill its promises of repealing the contentious legislation that targeted specific minority and oppressed communities. 

In a statement to the media, Machado and Damudi said the Congress must act on its pre-poll promises. 

The present Congress government, which was trying to get to power at that time, put in its election manifesto that if it came to power, it would withdraw the laws immediately,” Machado recalled. 

According to media reports, the Congress has been wary of seeming too eager to overturn all the contentious bills passed by its predecessor, anticipating backlash from the majority Hindu vote bank. 

The Broader National Context 

The dispute in Karnataka reflects a deepening systemic challenge for religious minorities across India. During the last decade, 13 Indian states, most of them BJP-ruled, have enacted stringent anti-conversion laws. 

States such as Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, and Himachal Pradesh have enacted new laws or significantly tightened existing ones. While proponents frame these laws as necessary measures to prevent “forced” or “fraudulent” conversions, international human rights watchdogs and legal experts argue they are weaponized to target minority communities. 

A string of petitions challenging these draconian laws has been filed in the country’s apex court, but the hearings have dragged on for a long time. 

The gridlock in Karnataka highlights the enduring political influence of Hindu-nationalist policies, even in states where the BJP is not currently in office. 

The ongoing legal restrictions on faith in India underscore a steady erosion of the secular principles established by the country’s founding constitution. 

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