By IANS,
Bangalore : Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa Tuesday said attacks on churches and prayer halls in the coastal city of Mangalore and other places in the state were a fallout of conversion activities in those areas.
“The attacks took place in areas where conversion activity was on,” Yeddyurappa told reporters after meeting with senior civil and police officials on the violent incidents in Mangalore, around 350 kms from here.
He said the government would enquire into charges by pro-Hindu groups that some organisations were receiving foreign funds to carry out conversions in the state.
“The government will not allow forcible conversions. The constitution does not permit it,” Yeddyurappa added.
The chief minister condemned the Sunday attacks on churches and prayer halls and said no group should take the law into its hands.
“What is the government for? If such activity (conversions) is taking place, it should be brought to the notice of the government,” he maintained.
Yeddyurappa rejected the opposition parties’ demand for a judicial probe into Sunday’s attacks in Mangalore, the headquarters of Dakshina Kannada district.
Around 10 churches and prayer halls were damaged in the attack and the Christians’ protest Monday turned violent as they clashed with Hindu groups and police.
More than 170 persons have been arrested by police, around 50 of them for the attack on the churches and the rest in connection with Monday’s violence.