‘Hindus Need Approval Before Converting to Buddhism, Sikhism, Jainism’

In an 8 Apr circular, the Gujarat government said it considers Buddhism, Sikhism, and Jainism as separate religions from the Hindu religion. It has asked Hindus seeking to convert to any of these three religions to seek permission of the concerned district magistrate under the Gujarat Freedom of Religion (GFR) Act, 2003. The circular was triggered by the fact that several Dalits (oppressed of untouchable Hindu low-castes) in Gujarat convert to Buddhism at mass events every year. According to the circular, the Gujarat Home Ministry noticed that the district magistrate offices are arbitrarily interpreting the GFR Act. According to the state govt., the GFR Act, ‘seeks to deal with religious conversion through allurement, force, or by misrepresentation or by any other fraudulent means.’ This stance by the state govt. goes against the earlier remarks by the same govt.: ‘Sikhism, Jainism and Buddhism are included within Hinduism and so the applicant is not required to take permission for (such) religious conversion.’ They also go against the Indian Constitution Article 25(2) which says: ‘the reference to Hindus shall be construed as including a reference to persons professing the Sikh, Jaina or Buddhist religion, and the reference to Hindu religious institutions shall be construed accordingly.’ The issue brings to focus Act 25(B) against which the Sikh community has rallied in the past. It is high time the terminology of the law is amended to consider each of these religions independent of each other. With this change, Hindutva forces will also be restrained from claiming: Sikhs are part of Hindus. On the other hand, religion is private and so is the freedom to convert. The state must not interfere in it.