419 applied for conversion in two years, 142 approved: Gujarat govt

More than 400 people in Gujarat have applied to district collectors for converting their religion until December 31, 2017, CM Vijay Rupani said while replying in the Assembly to the questions asked by opposition MLAs. The issue, however, could not be discussed during the Question Hour. The reply filed in the questionnaire was tabled on Tuesday.

The MLAs sought details for different districts in a set of two districts each. The details given by CM enumerated to be 419 people desirous of religious conversion. CM infor-med that out of 419 applicants, 142 applications have been approved.

The MLAs had also sought information of original religion of the applicants and findings from the reply, suggesting that 384 Hindus had sought permission for conversion, and that is around 92% of total applicants. However, the reply did not mention to which religion they wanted to be converted to. The details were given by CM also mentioned that 30 Muslims, 4 Christians and one Sikh had sought approval of district authorities for religious conversion. Maximum 194 applications were received by Banaskantha district collector. Only two were granted permission. Surendranagar district collector received and approved all 55 applications. Not a single application was filed in Narmada, Gir Somnath, Mahisagar, Dangs, Navsari, Tapi and Patan districts for religious conversion.

As per the Gujarat Freedom of Religion Act, a person desirous of changing his religion has to seek permission from district administration that is collector or district magistrate.