UP passes Bill on religious places

LUCKNOW, JAN 7: The Opposition parties' attempt to stall the Uttar Pradesh Regulation of Public Religious Buildings and Places Bill in the...

LUCKNOW, JAN 7: The Opposition parties’ attempt to stall the Uttar Pradesh Regulation of Public Religious Buildings and Places Bill in the Legislative Assembly on Wednesday by getting it referred to a select committee failed with Speaker Kesari Nath Tripathi ruling against it. The Bill was passed without the amendments proposed by some Opposition members.

The Bill was also passed by voice vote in the the Legislative Council today amidst protests from Opposition parties. The BSP and Samajwadi Party members stormed into the well of the House demanding threadbare discussion on it. However, the government refused their demand to refer the Bill to the select committee of the House or to have a detailed discussion on it.

Yesterday, in the Assembly, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Hukum Singh defended the Bill, saying that it had been introduced in the nation’s interest. He rapped the Opposition members who termed it as anti-minority communities. The Bill, after becoming a law, would empower the districtmagistrates (DM) to give permission for the construction of religious places belonging to any community, he reiterated.

Hukum Singh said the DMs would have the power to demolish any such buildings built without their permission. He said the government was forced to introduce the Bill after getting reports that religious places on the Nepal border were being misused by ISI and land was being purchased in large-scale to construct religious buildings to carry out anti-national activities.

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