Nagaland CM attacks 'Freedom of Religion Bills'

New Delhi, May 17 (UNI) Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio today attacked 'Freedom of Religion Bills', saying such legislations deprived the people of their right to freedom of religion guaranteed by the Constitution.

''This is a subject about which I feel strongly as a tribal and a Christian,'' said Mr Rio sharing a forum on empowerment of dalits and tribals with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and leader of the Opposition LK Advani.

''The so-called freedom of religion bills are basically directed against Christianity, having been used to prevent conversion to this religion, and to harass Christian missionaries, who have renderd so many philanthrpic services to the poor and the marginalised,'' he said.

The Chief Minister also registered his strong protest against what he called ''grave injustice'' to dalit Christians'' who because of religion and faith have been deprived of their right to reservation, which the dalit Hindus enjoy.'' He sought to underline that the socio-economic condition of these dalit Christians had not changed after their conversion to Christianity.

Mr Rio also came down heavily on the policy and functioning of the Tribal Affairs Ministry.

''This Ministry implements tribal sub plans in those states which have pockets of tribal areas, but has no such plan for the fully tribal states of the North east. I consider this a great paradox. We had taken up this issue at various fora in the past, but with no results so far,'' he said.

He was addressing the two-day international conference on 'Empowerment of SCs, STs and Minorities', convened by Lok Sabha Deputy speaker Charanjit Singh Atwal.

Mr Rio hoped the conference would deliberate upon these issues and come out with its recommendations.

UNI