Addressing a “badlav” (change) rally here, Shah raised the issue of religious conversions in Punjab and said the entire state is afflicted with it.
“All of Punjab is facing the issue of religious conversions. I am saying this to all Hindu and Sikh brothers and sisters, you form the BJP government once, we will bring a Bill to ban religious conversions,” he said.
“Aren’t the Congress and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) aware of it?” the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader asked as he attacked both the parties over the issue. He accused them of facilitating religious conversions for the sake of vote-bank politics.
Shah further said the ninth Sikh guru, Tegh Bahadur, had laid down his life for stopping religious conversions.
“From this land, I want to say this today — if Guru Tegh Bahadurji was not there, there would not be a single Hindu left in India today,” he said.
It is the sacrifice of Guru Tegh Bahadur that has sustained this country, he added.”From Guru Nanak Dev to Guru Gobind Singh, I bow my head before the gurus,” Shah said.
Earlier this month in Mumbai, the home minister had spoken about religious conversions in Punjab and appealed to the AAP government in the state, led by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, to put an end to this practice driven by “greed”.
Shah was addressing the “Hind-Di-Chadar” commemoration event in Kharghar, Navi Mumbai, to mark the 350th martyrdom anniversary of Guru Tegh Bahadur.
