New Delhi: Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot Friday said ‘love jihad’ was a word manufactured by the BJP to disturb communal harmony.
Gehlot’s comment came amid proposals by several BJP ministers in Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh to bring about a law banning religious conversions for the sake of marriage.
In a detailed tweet Friday afternoon, Gehlot said the law is “unconstitutional” and “will not stand in any court”.
Love Jihad is a word manufactured by BJP to divide the Nation & disturb communal harmony. Marriage is a matter of personal liberty, bringing a law to curb it is completely unconstitutional & it will not stand in any court of law. Jihad has no place in Love.
1/— Ashok Gehlot (@ashokgehlot51) November 20, 2020
‘Love jihad’ is a term coined by Hindu fundamentalist groups to refer to an alleged campaign by Muslims to convert Hindu women in the guise of love.
In a detailed tweet thread, Gehlot also said the BJP was trying to create an “environment where consenting adults would be at the mercy of state power”. Calling marriage a personal decision, Gehlot further said that putting curbs on it was like “snatching” someone’s personal liberty.
He reiterated that ‘love jihad’ was a “ploy to disrupt communal harmony and fuel social conflict”.
It seems a ploy to disrupt communal harmony, fuel social conflict & disregard constitutional provisions like the state not discriminating against citizens on any ground.
3/— Ashok Gehlot (@ashokgehlot51) November 20, 2020
Nearly an hour later, Congress MP Karti Chidambaram also tweeted saying a law against ‘love jihad’ was akin to the “Jim Crow laws of Segregationist America, Nuremberg Laws of Nazi Germany and Apartheid Laws of South Africa”.
The #lovejihaad laws being proposed by @BJP4India ruled states are akin to the Jim Crow laws of Segregationist America, Nuremberg Laws of Nazi Germany and Apartheid Laws of South Africa. This has no place in Modern Liberal Free India
— Karti P Chidambaram (@KartiPC) November 20, 2020
Also read: India needs more and more inter-faith marriages, and laws need to facilitate that
Law against ‘love jihad’
Several state governments have said that they were considering a law banning religious conversions for the sake of marriage. Karnataka Tourism Minister and BJP National General Secretary C.T. Ravi had earlier this month said, “We will not remain silent when Jihadis strip the dignity of our sisters.”
While Haryana Home Minister Anil Vij tweeted saying, “A law against love jihad is being considered in Haryana.”
Earlier this week, Madhya Pradesh Home Minister Narottam Mishra also announced that a bill against ‘love jihad’ will have the provision of five years of rigorous imprisonment “against those involved in forceful religious conversion and marriage by lure or fraud”.
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