Maharashtra’s anti-conversion law weaponizes faith as governance tool, exposing colonial-era legacies of religious control
Original framing: “Sign before praying: A new conversion law is affecting churchgoers in Indian state” — BBC News - World
Marginalized voices, particularly from Dalit Christian communities in Maharashtra’s Vidarbha region, describe the law as a tool of harassment rather than protection, citing instances where police have raided churches under false accusations of forced conversion. A 2021 report by *Human Rights Watch* documents how Dalit women, who convert to escape domestic violence, are now subject to 'reconversion' campaigns by Hindu nationalist groups. Muslim and Christian leaders in the state have also highlighted how the law is used to justify the closure of minority-run schools and hospitals, deepening educational and healthcare disparities. These voices are systematically excluded from mainstream narratives, which frame the law as a neutral enforcement of 'religious harmony' rather than a weapon of exclusion.
The Maharashtra anti-conversion law is not an anomaly but a deliberate extension of colonial and Hindu nationalist strategies to control religious identity as a tool of governance.
By framing conversions as coercive while ignoring systemic caste violence, the law weaponizes faith to consolidate majoritarian power, a tactic that has deep roots in India’s post-colonial history and finds echoes in global authoritarian regimes. The absence of Indigenous and Dalit perspectives in mainstream narratives obscures how these communities have historically used religion as a means of resistance, while cross-cultural comparisons reveal that pluralistic societies—like those in Bali or Canada—reject such legal interventions in favor of communal harmony. The law’s enforcement mechanisms, modeled after colonial-era policies, are designed to silence dissent under the guise of protection, a paradox that trickster figures like *Anansi* and *Eshu* expose as both absurd and dangerous. To dismantle this system, solutions must address economic disparities, decentralize religious governance, and foster cross-cultural dialogue—approaches that not only restore marginalized voices but also challenge the very premise that the state should police faith.