A Christian delegation on Monday submitted a memorandum to the Karnataka governor, appealing to him not to give his assent to the anti-conversion ordinance passed by the state cabinet.

The delegation representing the community in the state urged governor Thaawar Chand Gehlot “to refrain from giving assent to such an undesirable and discriminatory Bill in the interest and welfare of the Christian minority community, and also to maintain peace, harmony and unity among all the religious communities in the state and in the country.”

The state cabinet had on May 12 taken the ordinance route to pass The Karnataka Protection of Right to Freedom of Religion Bill, 2021 that could not be tabled in the upper house of the state legislature where the BJP lacks majority.

The BJP government had passed the bill in the Assembly in December 2021 amid strident opposition from the Congress and Janata Dal Secular.

The ordinance provides for jail terms up to 10 years and penalty up to Rs 1 lakh for “fraudulent” conversions by coercion or allurement.

The delegation, in its letter, said “a few stray and sporadic incidents of conversion should not portray the entire community in bad light.”

The letter highlighted that the Christian population has been dwindling at the state and national level.

“According to census data of India, the percentage of Christian population in the country in 2001 was 2.34 per cent. And, as per the census data of India-2011, the Christian population declined marginally from 2.34 per cent to 2.30 per cent.”

The delegation pointed out that the situation was no different in Karnataka where Christian population was down from 1.91 per cent in the 2001 census to 1.87 per cent in the 2011 census.

“If there were rampant conversions, as claimed by some, the Christian population, both in state and nation, would have seen a considerable increase in numbers. But the facts and figures indicate that a lot of hue and cry, over religious conversion, is unrealistically magnified and grossly exaggerated,” it noted.