[Letter to Mr R N Singh Deo]

Summary

This archival file, dated 24 January 1968, contains N. Dandekar’s personal and confidential letter to R. N. Singh Deo, Chief Minister of Orissa, concerning the Orissa Freedom of Religion Bill, 1967, together with several enclosures. Dandekar accepts the Bill’s aim of preventing coercive or fraudulent conversions but argues that its scope is dangerously broad: it may invade freedom of conscience and the right to propagate one’s faith, and could establish a politically harmful precedent across India. He asks that the Bill be amended and says he has approached President Dr Zakir Hussain to withhold assent until those changes are made. An accompanying note develops the constitutional argument under Article 25 and proposes deleting or narrowing provisions relating to social ex-communication, fraudulent contrivance, and non-pecuniary benefits.

The rendered file also includes correspondence and memoranda on related political and economic matters. One note defends the legislation as a response to alleged missionary activity among tribal populations and religious tensions in Orissa, while Dandekar’s material emphasizes the risks of coercion, inducement, communal confrontation, and administrative overreach. A separate note on kendu-leaf policy weighs Swatantra Party electoral commitments against the need to preserve state revenue and protect growers and pluckers, recommending revised terms rather than immediate abolition of the monopoly. The final rendered documents outline a proposed integrated aluminium plant in Orissa, citing bauxite reserves, expanding hydroelectric capacity, concessional power, employment, and industrial development as reasons to prefer sites such as Jeypore. The file’s final seven PDF pages were not rendered, so later material, including the remainder of the aluminium-plant memorandum, cannot be summarized here.

Key points

• Dandekar objects to the breadth of the Orissa Freedom of Religion Bill while accepting its objective of preventing coercive and fraudulent conversions.
• The accompanying constitutional note argues that the Bill may conflict with Article 25 by restricting religious propagation and practical freedom of conscience.
• Dandekar urges consultation with the Swatantra Party’s Central Parliamentary Board and seeks presidential withholding of assent pending amendments.
• The enclosures present missionary activity, conversion methods, and resulting communal tensions as the background to the legislation.
• The kendu-leaf memorandum favors revising the monopoly system to balance state revenue with the interests of growers and pluckers.
• The aluminium memorandum presents Orissa’s power supply and bauxite reserves as grounds for locating a large integrated aluminium plant in the state.
• The rendered pages connect civil-liberties concerns with party procedure, state administration, industrial policy, and regional development.