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The Debates on Religious Conversion in Post- Independence India

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The Debates on Religious Conversion in Post- Independence India Poles Apart: The Debates on Religious Conversion in Post- Independence India by Ian Douglas Richards A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department for the Study of Religion University of Toronto © Copyright by Ian Richards, 2017 Poles Apart: The Debate on Religious Conversion in Post-Independence India Ian Douglas Richards Doctor of Philosophy Department for the Study of Religion University of Toronto 2017 Abstract This dissertation is an historical analysis of the ideological and religious debates over conversion to Christianity in India since its Independence in 1947. In particular, the study focuses on how these debates have played out within various forms of proposed and enacted anti-conversion legislation at the state and federal levels of government. The study identifies the key poles of the conversion debate, first set forth in India’s Constituent Assembly Debates, and which have remained remarkably uniform through 70 years of legislation, rhetoric, and scholarship. Chapter One situates the study within the context of existing scholarship on both conversion and Christianity in India, with a focus on emerging scholarly views of the manifold ways in which conversion can be defined. Chapter Two examines India as a secular nation and attempts to identify the status of religious minorities within a conceptual space which, while secular, reflects a predominantly Hindu worldview. Chapters Three, Four, and Five provide an extensive primary source analysis of the conversion debates preceding the patriation of the Indian Constitution, government reports, High Court rulings, and legislation proposed and enacted between 1947 and 1981. Chapter Six examines a second tranche of anti-conversion legislation enacted at the state level between 2002 and 2008, following the rise to power of the ii Hindu nationalist political parties at various levels of government in India. Chapter Seven examines contemporary expressions of the debate over religious conversion in India, with a focus on court challenges to existing anti-conversion legislation. Chapter Eight concludes the study, arguing that what is at stake for India as a secular state with constitutional protections for freedom of religion, is how both conversion’s critics and proponents understand the diversity of motivations for converting, and how this knowledge is applied to ensure religious freedom for all of India’s citizens. Without understanding the motivation which underlie the debate, conversion will remain a contested and at times violently contested issue. iii Acknowledgments While in the midst of yet another draft of this dissertation, I thought to myself, why am I even bothering to finish? What do I hope that such a study would accomplish? The answer came in a passage from my favourite author, Richard Ford’s, story collection Let Me Be Frank with You: Though I feel that for most people, me included, this pointless speculation allows us to share a consequence with the real sufferers, feel that something can be “shaken loose” in ourselves that wouldn’t get acknowledged otherwise. At the very least, it’s an interesting tool kit in empathy and agency—two things we should all be interested in. We should all be interested in empathy and agency; and if this study in any way contributes to an appreciation of these two ideals, I will certainly consider it a success. There are far too many people to thank in this short space. I would first like to thank Professor Arti Dhand for supervising this work over the long course of its writing—not only for her patience, but also for her profound knowledge and keen editorial eye, which greatly improved this dissertation over its many incarnations. I would also like to thank the members of my supervisory committee, Professors Reid Locklin and Zaheer Baber. The contributions of these two scholars to this project have been invaluable, and I am most thankful for their support, encouragement, and insight. I would also like to express my gratitude to my MA supervisor, Professor Ronald Neufeldt, whose own work on conversion in India inspired this research well over a decade ago. Special thanks are due to my parents, Dan and Jacquie Richards, and to my parents-in-law, Don and Janet Traxel, for their encouragement and endless support in so many ways. This dissertation is lovingly dedicated to my wife, Susan Traxel, and to my sons, Charles and Phinneas Richards. Without them—their encouragement, their love, and their passion for life—this project would have never been finished. The completion of this study is small payment indeed for the many sacrifices they have made on my behalf while it was written. iv Table of Contents Chapter One: Introduction: Situating the Study ....................................................................................... 1 I. Introduction……………………………………………………………………………………...1 II. Theories of Conversion I: Lewis Rambo’s Stages of Religious Change………………………..7 III. Theories of Conversion II: Chad Bauman, “Primordialism” and Assent……………………...12 IV. Further Theoretical Considerations: Stanley J. Tambiah: Focalization and Transvaluation…………………………………………………………………………………18 V. Studies on Religious Conversion in India: Legislation……………………………………………………………………………………..22 VI. Studies on Religious Conversion in India: Sovereignty……………………………………….24 VII. The Primary Issues…………………………………………………………………………….26 VIII. Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………………......31 Chapter Two: Foreignness and Hindutva, Demographic Fear and Secularism…………………….33 I. Origins of the ‘foreignness’ of Indian Christianity………………………………………….34 II. The Sangh Parivar and Hindutva………………………..……………………………………………………………53 III. Defining Indian Secularism; Critiques of Indian Secularism………………………..………65 IV. An Analysis of Indian Secularism in light of its crisis and the principle of demographic fear…………………………………………………………………………………………...80 Chapter Three: The Constituent Assembly Debates and the Drafting of the Indian Constitution...89 I. Introduction………………………………………………………………………………….89 II. Freedom of Religion as a Fundamental Right……………………………..………………..92 III. Different Conceptions of Religious Belief in the Constituent Assembly…………………...94 IV. Superfluous or Pernicious?.....................................................................................................96 V. Contra Conversion………………………………………………………………………….100 VI. Propagation of Religion…………………………………………………………………….106 VII. Why was propagation eventually enshrined in the Constitution?..........................................111 VIII. Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………….114 Chapter Four: The State Missionary Enquiry Reports……………………………………………...116 I. Historical Background to the State Missionary Enquiry Reports…………………………..116 II. The Jharkhand Movement…………………………………………………………………..120 III. Introduction to the State Missionary Enquiry Reports……………………………………...128 IV. The Rege Report…………………………………………………………………………….129 V. The Niyogi Report…………………………………………………………………………..133 VI. India Perceived as a Hindu Nation………………………………………………………….134 VII. Conversion Itself the Issue………………………………………………………………….149 VIII. The Politicization of Religion in the Immediate Post-Independence Period…………….…153 IX. Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………….155 v Chapter Five: Proposed and Enacted Legislation, 1954-1981…………………………….…………156 I. Introduction…………………………………………………………………...…………….156 II. The 1950s: Hindu Personal Laws and the Indian Converts (Regulation and Registration Bill), 1954…………………………………………………………………………………………158 III. The Orissa Freedom of Religion Act, 1967…………………………………………………164 IV. The Madhya Pradesh Dharma Swatantrya Adhiniyam, 1968………………………...…….168 V. Indian High Court and Supreme Court Responses to Orissa and Madhya Pradesh Freedom of Religion Acts, 1972-1977…………………………………………………………………...172 VI. Arunachal Pradesh, 1978……………………………………………………………………184 VII. Additional Anti-Conversion Bills put forward in the Lok Sabha, 1967, 1978, and 1981…..186 VIII. Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………………..197 Chapter Six: The State Freedom of Religion Acts: 2002-2008…………………...…………………200 I. Introduction…………………………………………………………………………………200 II. The Murder of Graham Staines and the Wadhwa Report.………………………………….202 III. Tamil Nadu, 2002 (Repealed, 2006)………………………………………………………..216 IV. Gujarat, 2003; Amendment, 2006; Rules, 2008…………………………………………….222 V. Chhattisgarh Freedom of Religion (Amendment) Act, 2006……………………………….228 VI. Himachal Pradesh Freedom of Religion Act, 2006…………………………………………232 VII. Madhya Pradesh Freedom of Religion (Amendment) Act, 2006………………………...…235 VIII. Rajasthan Freedom of Religion Act, 2008………………………...………………………..237 IX. Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………….241 Chapter Seven: Post 2008 Developments in the Indian Conversion Debates………………………243 I. Introduction……………………………………………………………………...………….243 II. The Dara Singh Verdict in the Graham Staines Murder Case………………………………244 III. The 2012 Challenge of the Himachal Pradesh Freedom of Religion Act, 2006…...……….256 IV. Sangh Parivar Responses to the Himachal Pradesh Act Challenge………………………...267 V. Bijoya Chakravarty’s 2011 Anti-Conversion Bill at the Centre………………………...….272 VI. Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………….……276 Chapter Eight: Conclusion………………………………………………………….…………………278 I. Introduction…………………………………………………………………………………278 II. The Poles of the Debate over Conversion in Post-Independence India………………….....280 III. Denationalization, Demographic Fear, and Postcolonial Anxiety…………………….……281 IV. The Legislation: What is the issue? Fraudulent
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