104 ex-bureaucrats write to UP CM Yogi Adityanath, demand withdrawal of anti-conversion law

In a letter to Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Aditynath over the recently passed anti-conversion ordinance, 104 retired civil servants said that the state has become the “epicentre of the politics of hate, division and bigotry” and the institutions of governance are “steeped in communal poison,” reports PTI. 

The ex-bureaucrats and diplomats demanded immediate withdrawal of the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Ordinance, alleging that it is being used to “victimise especially those Indian men who are Muslim and women who dare to exercise their freedom of choice”.

The letter, dated December 29, has been signed by former foreign secretary Nirupama Rao, ex-national security adviser Shivshankar Menon, former chief information commissioner Wajahat Habibullah among others. 

The anti-conversion ordinance was promulgated by the BJP-ruled UP government on November 27, which specifies the procedure for undergoing religious conversions, prohibiting unlawful religious conversions. The BJP-led Madhya Pradesh government has too passed a similar ordinance. 

The former civil servants wrote, “It has become painfully evident that, in recent years, UP state, once known as the cradle of the Ganga-Jamuna civilisation, has become the epicentre of the politics of hate, division and bigotry and that the institutions of governance are now steeped in communal poison.”

The letter also mentioned a case of interfaith marriage in Uttar Pradesh, stating, “In the Moradabad incident, 22-year-old Rashid and his 25-year-old brother, Saleem, were arrested, to be released only two weeks later when Rashid’s wife, Pinki, gave testimony that she had married him willingly, without any compulsion.”

The couple, who got married in July 2020, before the ordinance was promulgated in November, were accosted allegedly by Bajrang Dal members, who accused the husband, Rashid of “love jihad” and took them to police when they were on their way to get their marriage registered on December 5.

The ordinance, which specifies no religion, has drawn criticism as critics say it is against Muslims. Some hardline Hindu groups have accused Muslim men of luring Hindu women into marriage as a part of a campaign, dubbed as “Love Jihad.”

The letter, also signed by the ex-police commissioner of Pune Meeran Borwankar, further said, “The vigilantes who had accosted them brought Pinki’s family to the police station. What is inexcusable is that the police remained mute as the vigilantes harassed and interrogated the innocent couple. Pinki suffered a miscarriage, possibly as a result of the harassment. Rashid is reported to have said. Does this not amount to effective murder of an unborn child and is the police force of your state, by their inaction, not complicit in this?” 

Addressing Adityanath, the retired servicemen said this is only one of a series of “heinous atrocities committed by your administration” against young Indians across Uttar Pradesh.

“You can pose no greater threat to the nation than by turning its own citizens against one another, a conflict that can only serve the country’s enemies,” the ex-bureaucrats said, Reuters reported.