INDIA'S HINDU nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the main opposition, is considering legislating against mass religious conversions if it wins the forthcoming general election.
The initiative, which could lead to friction with the US, follows a growing number of attacks on Christians in recent months in several states amid allegations from right-wing Hindu groups that missionaries are converting the poor by enticing them with handouts or through force.
"The missionaries are free to work in any part of the country, but mass conversion by force or handouts is not acceptable," said Rajnath Singh, the BJP's president, in an interview in Raipur, Chhattisgarh state, in eastern India.
Mr Singh, the party's most senior leader alongside LK Advani, its candidate for prime minister, was speaking ahead of six months of state electoral contests between coalitions led by the BJP and the Congress party, culminating in a general election next year.
Up to five states have passed anti-conversion laws. But, until now, only Hindu extremist wings of the BJP, such as the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, have demanded a law from central government.
Mr Singh's call may be an attempt to try to grab the initiative ahead of the general election.
In recent months, Chhattisgarh's neighbouring state of Orissa has been the scene of some the worst religious violence India has seen for many years, after the killing of a Hindu leader sparked attacks on Christians that left 35 people dead.
Mr Singh did not elaborate on what would be involved in a national anti-conversion law.
But a similar law in the BJP-governed western state of Gujarat requires any person seeking to conduct a conversion ceremony to apply to a magistrate for permission one month before the event. The penalty for non-compliance is four years in prison.
Any effort to introduce anti-conversion legislation at a national level could run into stiff opposition from the US, which was critical of such laws in a report in September on international religious freedom. - ( Financial Timesservice)