Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has received a letter in support of the Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Ordinance 2020 by 224 retired officers and intellectuals across the country who have said they promote the law. The development happens after 104 retired IAS officers from the state deemed the Ordinance as a hate-mongering law and cited some examples where it was used illegally.
The Yogi government brought the Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Ordinance, 2020 last year which aims to prevent anyone from forcibly converting anyone using greed, cheating, or conspiring.
The supporters of the Ordinance have in their letters questioned the motives of the IAS officers and said they are doing politics. The pro-Ordinance people also alleged the IAS officers do not represent any citizen of the state and their demand to re-think the ordinance is absolutely unconstitutional and shameful.
Former Chief Justice of Sikkim High Court Pramod Kohli, former Chief Justice of Delhi High Court Rajendra Menon, former Punjab DGP PC Dogra, former Punjab Chief Secretary Sarvesh Kaushal, former Tripura DGP of Tripura BL Bohra, former Director-General of National Museum, Dr. BR Mani, former DGP of UP Mahendra Modi, former Vice-Chancellor of KGMU Lucknow, MLB Bhatt, Dr. Shakuntala Mishra, former Vice-Chancellor of National Rehabilitation University, Dr. Nishith Rai and former Vice-Chancellor of BHU, Girish Chandra Tripathi are amongst those who wrote in favour of the Ordinance.
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Whereas, former National Security Advisor Shivshankar Menon, former Prime Minister Advisor PK Nair, and former Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao were among those who criticized the ordinance and said the anti-conversion law has made the state a center of politics of hatred and bigotry.
These former bureaucrats also questioned the understanding of politicians and said all politicos including the Chief Minister need to re-educate themselves about the Constitution.
