For the first time in the history of Gujarat, a ruling party withdrew its own bill introduced in the Assembly.
Narendra Modi’s Government introduced an amendment bill named "The Freedom of Religions (Amendment) Bill 2006" ,which enabled easy conversions from one religion to another. For example Muslims from Shia to Sunni sect, Christians from Catholic to protestant and vice versa, among the sub-sects of Hindus, without getting any sanction from the concerned authorities. But the bill was hurriedly withdrawn, as the Jains objected to it since they have been mentioned as a sub-sect of Hindus. When the bill was sent to the Gujarat Governor for approval, he also returned the bill since it violates Article 25 (A) of the Indian Constitution. In the wake of the Jains opposition to the bill, the Gujarat Governmnet had been toying with the idea of withdrawing the bill. The bill’s return by the Governor came as a blessing in disguise and the bill was promptly withdrawn.
However, the original act, the freedom of religion act (2003) passed by the Gujarat government is in force and only the amendment bill has been withdrawn. According to the original act of 2003, religious conversions have to be approved by the head of the concerned head of the sect.
It is an irony that the Sikhs, the Jains, the Buddhists, are all the offshoots of Hinduism and accordingly mentioned in the Hindu Marriages Act (1955), for which, thank God there is no opposition from any quarter or any sect or offshoot.
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