After UCC, Bengal govt eyes anti-conversion law, curbs on land deals

With the proposed Uniform Civil Code (UCC) set to become one of the BJP government’s first major ideological legislations in West Bengal, Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Tuesday indicated that laws against forced religious conversion and restrictions on land transactions could be next on his government’s agenda.

Addressing a review meeting of the Paschimanchal Unnayan Parshad in Bankura, Adhikari said the government planned to introduce a stringent law to tackle forced conversions and bring new legal provisions governing the purchase and sale of land.

“We will bring the UCC very soon; one country, one law. After that, our next steps will be to bring a stringent law to prevent forced conversion and new legal restrictions on land purchase and sale,” he said.

Land restrictions next on agenda

Adhikari did not elaborate on the nature of the proposed restrictions on land transactions or indicate whether they would apply to property deals between people belonging to different religious communities.

The proposal, however, brings into focus two issues that have figured prominently in the BJP’s political discourse — religious conversion and what the party has described as “land jihad”.

The BJP has for several years raised concerns over alleged demographic changes in districts bordering Bangladesh, linking them to illegal migration and claiming that indigenous communities were losing control over land to “outsiders”.

With the Trinamool Congress voted out after 15 years in power, issues previously raised by the BJP during political campaigns are now moving into the policy arena.

Adhikari alleges illegal conversions

Tuesday’s meeting was attended by MPs, MLAs, state ministers, district magistrates and around 75 block development officers from districts including Bankura, Purulia, Jhargram and Birbhum.

Adhikari alleged that organisations receiving foreign funding were misleading economically vulnerable people in Bankura and the Junglemahal region and carrying out illegal religious conversions and “fundamentalist” activities.

The Chief Minister also listed measures he said had already been undertaken by his government, including transferring land along the international border to the Border Security Force, scrapping what he called an “illegal” OBC list, discontinuing allowances for imams and muezzins and preventing the carrying of swords during Muharram.

“Two tasks remain — bringing a law on religious conversion and another on land purchase and sale. I am doing both,” he said.

UCC panel examining draft Bill

The remarks come around six weeks after the state Cabinet approved the formation of a committee headed by retired Supreme Court judge Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai to examine the draft UCC Bill.

The four-member committee was given four weeks to scrutinise the proposed legislation and submit its recommendations. The Bill is expected to be brought before the state Assembly after the process is completed.

Adhikari had announced the government's move in the Assembly on June 29.

The proposed UCC seeks to establish common civil rules governing matters such as marriage, divorce, inheritance, succession and adoption, replacing religion-specific personal laws in these areas while maintaining constitutional protections for exempted categories.

If the legislation is passed during the extended Budget Session in August, West Bengal would become the fourth state to move towards implementing a UCC.

The BJP had promised in its Assembly election manifesto to implement the UCC within six months of coming to power.

Rs 1,610 crore for western districts

Alongside its ideological agenda, the government used Tuesday’s meeting to outline a development push for Junglemahal and other western districts.

Adhikari said Rs 1,610 crore had been allocated to the region for the current financial year. Of this, Rs 1,600 crore would be spent on development projects and Rs 10 crore on salaries.

He accused the previous government of neglecting the Paschimanchal Unnayan Parshad following the BJP’s strong performance in the region in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. According to Adhikari, the department received only Rs 20 crore in the previous financial year, of which Rs 6 crore was spent.

The government has drawn up a three-month timetable for the new development push. Projects and detailed project reports will be prepared in September, tenders floated in October and work taken up after the Puja holidays as the dry season begins.

Backward gram panchayats will be given priority, with development works worth at least Rs 50 lakh planned in each such area.

Focus on welfare, recruitment

Adhikari also reviewed the functioning of the bureaucracy, praising district magistrates while expressing dissatisfaction with the performance of some BDOs and asking them to take a more proactive approach.

Six flagship welfare programmes, including Annapurna Yojana, Ayushman Bharat, PM Awas Yojana, PM Surya Ghar and Jal Jeevan Mission, were placed at the centre of the government’s delivery agenda.

On government recruitment, the Chief Minister promised transparent, merit-based appointments through autonomous recruitment bodies. He cited the appointments of Anil Verma as Public Service Commission chairman and Dushyant Narial as School Service Commission chairman as part of the government's effort to signal that corruption would not be tolerated.

Adhikari also addressed the issue of Hindu refugees from Bangladesh, saying those who have applied for citizenship under the Citizenship Amendment Act should continue receiving ration, Annapurna and old-age benefits while their applications remain pending.