Buoyed by its massive win in the Maharashtra Assembly polls, the BJP-led Mahayuti led by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has repeatedly expressed its government’s commitment to enact a law against “love jihad” or “forced religious conversion”. However, the road ahead seems to be marked with various hurdles as some Mahayuti allies as well as the Opposition have expressed concerns over the proposed law.
Fadnavis said his government is not against interfaith marriages, but claimed that the instances of atrocities and fraud were on the rise. “However, where marriages happen through coercion, using false identities and with an objective of religious conversions and harassment, they need to be firmly tackled through an Act,” the CM said in Nagpur Sunday.
Undeterred by the opposition to the proposed law, the Mahayuti government – comprising the BJP, the Shiv Sena led by Deputy CM Eknath Shinde and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) led by Deputy CM Ajit Pawar – has taken its first step against “love jihad”, a phrase used by the right wing to allege a conspiracy by Muslim men to convert Hindu women to Islam through marriage.
In line with its pre-poll promise, the Fadnavis dispensation issued a government resolution (GR) last week stating its intent to enact the law to curb the “love jihad” cases. The state government constituted a seven-member committee, headed by the director general of police (DGP), in this regard, which will look into the legal provisions, develop a legal framework and study similar laws in other states like BJP-ruled Rajasthan, which tabled an anti-conversion law in its Assembly earlier this month.
Despite having the numbers to pass the “anti-love jihad” law in the Assembly and move towards implementing it, the Mahayuti government is likely to tread cautiously before tabling the Bill in the House.
While Fadnavis claims it is a social issue, increased pressure from various right wing outfits is seen to be a key reason for the government’s proposal to bring in an “anti-love jihad” law. During 2022-2024, over 50 such outfits, including the BJP, undertook a campaign across the state in favour of the law under the aegis of the Sakal Hindu Samaj. Their rallies drew massive crowds, leading to intense communal polarisation ahead of the last year’s Lok Sabha and Assembly polls.
This story was originally published in indianexpress.com. Read the full story here.
