Religious conversion row: Yogi Adityanath says opposition has no issues left

Lashing out at the opposition parties for creating a ruckus over the religious conversion issue, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Member of Parliament (MP) Yogi Adityanath on Monday stated that the former had run out of issues and did not want a discussion on anything.

"The opposition is trying to divide the society. They don't want a solution or discussion on any issue, and they want to stop any efforts by the government to resolve the issue, especially on the issue of conversions," Adityanath told ANI.

"The opposition has a negative thinking, they have no issues left now, they are depressed and want some issues," he added.

He had earlier said that strict laws should be implemented on religion conversion but if a Hindu got converted in the past due to some reasons then a 'ghar wapasi' should be allowed.

"There should be strict laws on religion conversion, there should be a discussion and we will give our proposals. If a Hindu got converted in the past due to some reasons then a 'ghar wapasi' should be allowed," he added.

Meanwhile, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Majeed Memon, said that forcing people to convert is against the law, especially when they are offered money for it.

"If you persist or offer money or induce, cheat or threaten people, you cannot do such a thing. If you do it, your act itself is a criminal offence for which you will be accountable to the process of law," said Memon.

"If anybody in India wants to voluntarily relinquish his religion and embrace some other religion, he is permitted to do so under the Constitution of India if he is an adult and if such decision is uninfluenced and well considered and without any coercion, force, undue influence, alluring or anything of that kind then that is permissible by law," he added.

Last week, around 200 people were reportedly converted to Hinduism in a ceremony in Agra by groups linked to the BJP's ideological mentor RSS.

Bajrang Dal and Dharam Jagran Manch, the groups that performed the mass conversions, reportedly claimed that the families were originally Hindus and converted to Islam around 30 years ago.

The issue led to an uproar in the Parliament by the opposition parties who demanded an explanation from the government.