COURTESY HT DEC 30
Ordinance ‘illegal’: Ex-bureaucrats to UP
Over 100 ex-bureaucrats have written a letter to Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath, demanding recall of an anti-conversion ordinance that they say has transformed the state into the “epicentre of politics of hate”. The letter has been signed by ex-national security advisor Shivshankar Menon, ex-foreign secretary Nirupama Rao, and TKA Nair, a former advisor to the PM, among others. The ordinance, termed “illegal” by the signatories, has provisions to check religious conversions by way of force, fraud or marriage, though there are fears that the law may also be used to target inter-faith marriages. HTC