Date:18/09/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/09/18/stories/2008091856161200.htm

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Disclose details of conversions: Gowda

Staff Correspondent

MANGALORE: Janata Dal (Secular) president H.D. Deve Gowda on Wednesday urged Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa to place before the people details of religious conversions, if at all they had really taken place during the 100-day BJP rule in Karnataka.

Mr. Gowda told journalists here that the Chief Minister, instead of taking action against those who attacked Christian prayer halls, said conversions were the main reason for Sunday’s attacks. He should tell people how many people were converted and where conversions took place.

Mr. Gowda alleged that the government was turning the State into a “Hindutva laboratory.” If the Chief Minister did not order a judicial probe by a High Court judge, the JD(S) would hold demonstrations. “We will take the issue to its logical end.”

The judicial probe might also go into Mr. Yeddyurappa’s complaint that some forces were attempting to destabilise the government, he said.

Referring to Sunday’s stone throwing incidents near the Milagres church, Mr. Gowda asked why the police gave room for such incidents.

Earlier, he visited the prayer halls which came under attack and met Mangalore Bishop Aloysius Paul D’Souza.