BJP takes on NCM on anti-conversion laws

New Delhi, June 20 (UNI) Taking exception to the ''super eagerness'' of some members of the National Commission for Minorities to ''defame the BJP-ruled states'' on anti-conversion issue, the party today accused the Commission of becoming a part of a systematic smear campaign whenever the saffron party-ruled governments initiated steps on the anti-conversion laws.

Party spokesman Ravi Shankar Prasad said the statements of NCM members, particularly Mr Harcharan Singh Josh, that the Christians in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh were not safe was ''biased, motivated and prejudiced''. There is a tendency among these members to speak out to the media even before the NCM submits its official reports. As a body the NCM has the responsibility to hear both versions before arriving at a conclusion and not dispose of the complaint ex parte, he added.

Mr Josh, he said, was not a neutral person and no one could miss his ''Congress links''.

He said obviously there were complaints against other state governments also but the NCM was targeting only the BJP-ruled states.

He said there was nothing wrong if someone was turning back to his religion publicly. Whenever someone wants to embrace Hinduism again, there was an orchestrated campaign against the move and NCM would be part of this.

Mr Prasad, Law Minister in the erstwhile NDA government, said the circumstantial evidence pointed towards Christian missionaries using education and health as an instrument to woo the poor and helpless population to embrace their religion. ''Should Ramesh become Robert to avail education facilities? '' he asked.

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