CHITRADURGA: An odd sight greeted the public returning from Sunday Mass in Hosadurga - MLA Gulihatti D Shekhar and his followers stood before the church gate in Hosadurga and asked people for their names, village, caste, how long they were coming to church and whether they had got converted.
Shekhar, who wants to prove that conversions are going on in his constituency, was not satisfied with the report submitted by then tahsildar of Hosadurga, Y Thippeswamy, who had said there were no forced conversions in Hosadurga taluk.
Shekhar decided to collect information about the conversions on his own, and spoke to people and also filmed their conversations.
While some of the people told the MLA that they had been coming to church for past seven to eight years, a woman replied that she has been coming since the COVID-19 outbreak, whereas some of them escaped the MLA's questions.
A couple from Devapura Bhovihatti, who belonged to the Bhovi community, fearful about speaking to the MLA, moved away without speaking to him, as did many others.
Shekhar told The New Indian Express, "Even after having a BJP government in the state, officials are not working properly and reports pertaining to religious conversions, prepared by previous tahsildar Thippeswamy, has many flaws."
It may be recalled that in September, Shekhar had alleged on the floor of the assembly that forced conversions were "rampant" in Hosadurga constituency and demanded a detailed probe. The Hosadurga tahsildar conducted a survey in Shanthinagar and Devapura Bhovihatti villages and filed a report on December 1, which stated that no forced conversions had taken place.
This contradicted Shekhar's allegations that people from SC, ST and OBC communities were being forcefully converted to Christianity. The report said that 46 families in two villages of the taluk had accepted Christianity on their own. Thippeswamy was transferred last week.