Indian Parliament in chaos over forced conversions

NEW DELHI: India’s parliament was thrown into disarray Tuesday as opposition lawmakers protested at mass conversions to Hinduism, with the uproar threatening to disrupt Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s legislative agenda.
Angry lawmakers stormed the well of Parliament’s upper house forcing its shutdown for the day. They demanded Modi make a statement on reports of poor Muslims being coerced into converting to India’s majority religion.
“The house will not run until the prime minister comes for discussion over the communal incidents and forced conversions issue,” Derek O’Brien, from the regional opposition All India Trinamool Congress, told reporters.
The warning threatens to disrupt the Modi government’s plans to pass a series of major economic reforms through Parliament, with just four days of the current session remaining.
The right-wing government, which swept to power at national elections in May on a pledge to reform and revive the economy, wants to pass a bill to open the insurance sector to foreign investment.
The government was also inching closer to finalyzing agreement with India’s states on taxation reform by introducing a national sales tax, according to local media reports on Tuesday.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley was hopeful of tabling a constitutional amendment in the current parliament for introduction of the long-awaited goods and services tax (GST), to replace a myriad of overlapping state duties that deter investment. A hard-line group linked to Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been accused of converting some 50 slum-dwelling Muslim families last week in the Taj Mahal city of Agra.