All higher education institutions in Uttar Pradesh, including medical and dental colleges, are gearing up to set up “Dharmantaran Roktham Cells” (anti-conversion cells) following an order by state governor Anandiben Patel.
The move has sparked a political row, with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) backing the directive, while the Opposition Samajwadi Party (SP) accused the government of ignoring more pressing issues in higher education.
The governor’s directive follows a series of investigations linked to Lucknow’s King George’s Medical University (KGMU) over the past two years, in which police registered cases and carried out searches and arrests while probing allegations of organised efforts to influence individuals for religious conversion.
Higher education institutions, including medical institutes and others, have been instructed to strengthen counselling services, monitoring systems, student welfare mechanisms, reporting protocols and establish preventive safeguards.
