Panaji, Aug 27 (PTI) The Congress on Thursday targeted the BJP-led Goa government over its proposed anti‑conversion legislation, alleging it was aimed at flaring communal tension in the otherwise peaceful state.
An independent MLA, who supports the government, also claimed that such a law would create communal disharmony in the coastal state and appealed to Chief Minister Pramod Sawant to reconsider tabling the bill in the assembly.
The state cabinet on Wednesday approved the Goa Prohibition of Unlawful Conversions of Religion Bill, 2026, proposing life imprisonment among other stringent penalties. It will be tabled in the state assembly during its monsoon session beginning August 31, officials said.
The bill proposes strict punishment for religious conversion allegedly carried out through force, coercion, undue influence, allurement, fraudulent means or marriage.
Under the bill, offenders may face life imprisonment, and it proposes fines of at least Rs 50,000 and compensation of up to Rs 5 lakh to victims.
Goa Congress president Carlos Alvares Ferreira claimed the proposed legislation “is an attempt to whip up communal tension in the peaceful state”.
The Congress would oppose the bill when it is tabled in the assembly, he told reporters.
Ferreira said there was no justification for such a bill when the state had not recorded any cases of religious conversion.
“I am not surprised that this bill is being introduced because, if you look at the pattern of the government headed by Dr Pramod Sawant, he was categorical each time in trying to claim that conversions were going on in the state,” he charged.
Ferreira stated that when the government was asked about statistics on conversion cases, three cases were cited, of which one was closed by the police and the other two were quashed by the high court.
Claiming that there were no cases of religious conversion in the state, Ferreira said, “That means these were just bogies, false cases. In such a situation, when we don’t have instances of any religious conversion in the state, what is the necessity of bringing such a law?” Independent MLA Aleixo Reginaldo Lourenco, who supports the Sawant-led government, claimed the proposed legislation was “not in good taste”.
The enactment of such a law would create communal disharmony in the state, Lourenco said, and appealed to CM Sawant to reconsider tabling the bill in the House.
There was no need for such legislation as there were no instances of religious conversion in the state, he said. PTI RPS GK
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