The Bombay Catholic Sabha’s (BCS) several Parish Units held peaceful prayerful protests across 35 locations in the city, Thane and Navi Mumbai, urging Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to drop the Freedom of Religion (anti-conversion) Bill. The bill prohibits religious conversion through misrepresentation, force, coercion, or any fraudulent means.
No freedom
One of the protest sites was outside the St Michael’s Church at Mahim, where a number of BCS representatives preparing for the group protest stated upfront, “we are concerned and upset about the move to introduce this Bill in the forthcoming winter session in December 2025 at Nagpur”. Top of the mind some concerns cited were the “infringement of constitutional rights”.
Joe Gaikwad
The Constitution of India guarantees the right to freedom of religion. The proposed bill criminalises voluntary religious conversions, interfering with the personal choice of faith. “The bill threatens to stifle the very spirit of compassion… every act of kindness could be misinterpreted or maliciously portrayed as an attempt at conversion through inducement and allurement,” the group said.
Awareness ante
Citizens gathered outside the Mahim Church premises, in the sweltering mid-morning heat. Vinod Noronha of the BCS said, “This is not about aggression but awareness. Many people still do not know what this Bill is all about. We have protest meets fanned out all across. We have arrived here after protesting at another Mahim (Victoria Church) venue.”
Dolphy D’Souza, BCS spokesperson, said, “Freedom of Religion Bill is a misnomer. There is no freedom. If there is freedom of religion then people should be free to follow any religion they wish to.” Several participants spoke in unison as they said, “A lot of allegations have been made, but no conversion has been proved.”
Dolphy D’Souza, BCS spokesperson
Misuse risk
Asked if there are no conversions, then why worry about the Bill at all, the community stated that there is “a risk of misuse and targeting of minority communities. The stated aim of the Bill is to prevent forced or fraudulent conversions; it could be used to harass faith-based groups, charitable institutions, or individuals who are simply practising their faith, especially in minority communities.” D’Souza said, “This could be used as a political tool and have a chilling effect on minorities. Work which is motivated by faith and humanitarian concerns, may be characterised as inducement and allurement to convert.”
Numbers speak
Some community members stated, “Numbers expose the conversion lie. In many Christian schools you will find just a handful of Christian students, even a singular student in a class. So, whoever is supposedly doing this converting is not doing a very good job of it!” Rita D’Sa, former president of BCS, said, “A beginning has been made. This is a build-up for further programmes. We would have actually liked inter-faith dialogues and harmony, building up goodwill.”
A diversion
D’Souza also slammed this Bill as some kind of diversionary tactic “to mislead people from real, core issues. Those should be issues of governance — employment, crime, and at the local level, the state of the roads in our cities, infrastructure problems. Instead, we have this. We had to speak up as there is a very real fear of harassment. Silence fuels oppression, and so in peace and prayer we protest.” There was Joe Gaikwad, who had his sunglasses on, Top Gun style. The retired assistant commissioner of police stated, “If there are allegations of conversion, I will say there was conversion from hate to love, from sinfulness to salvation. This is a very peaceful community.”
Winding up
The protest wound down with prayers and hymns, with Dolphy D’Souza stating solemnly in prayer, “We pray Lord in your wisdom that you enlighten the minds of leaders. That you will be with us in your struggle and unite us in this moment of anxiety and grief. Let there be peace on earth.” There were announcements that this campaign will continue with yet another awareness initiative slated for November 16 at Borivli.
