Odisha MP and Minister of State for Animal Husbandry Pratap Chandra Sarangi told ThePrint in an interview that religious conversions, carried out through force, fraud or allure are akin to asking for sexual favours from a girl in exchange for helping her.
The first-time BJP MP told ThePrint that he is against religious conversion as it is against the provisions of the Freedom of Religion Act, 1967. He added that it was illegal and subject to punishment under law.
“Suppose somebody helped a girl in a medical or engineering college, and wanted to enjoy the girl physically. That would be treated as a crime, an inhumane act. Similarly, if somebody wants to convert or exploit someone’s belief by giving some service or money, then that should also be treated as a crime – a crime against nature, against humanity,” Sarangi said in the interview.
Sarangi added that many great men, such as Swami Vivekananda and Mahatma Gandhi had opposed religious conversions.
Apart from Animal Husbandry, Sarangi has also been made MoS for Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises. Out of the BJP’s eight Odisha MPs, he is the only one to be given a ministerial berth.
Sarangi, newly-elected from Odisha’ Balasore, was the chief of the state’s Bajrang Dal unit when Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two young sons were burnt alive by Right-wing extremists in 1999.
Referring to the incident in the interview, Sarangi said that he had condemned the brutal murder then and dismissed the allegations that he had supported Dara Singh, who has been convicted for killing Staines and his children.
(With inputs from ThePrint.)
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