Get real: UP and Haryana CMs should launch big publicity campaigns for the Special Marriage Act

This is India in the 21st century. Marriage between consenting adults is their private matter. Muscling into this private relationship is not the remit of the state. Even families have no legal right to interrupt the independent choices of their adult members. Yet, they do this all too often. Modernity itself continues to be resisted by patriarchal and feudal mindsets, which can often deploy state institutions like the police to harass young persons who choose their life partners outside of their family’s consent. At core this is a resistance to the whole philosophy and pursuit of equality that is foundational to India as a modern nation.

It should be understood that beyond feeding ugly communal prejudices, the loud politics of ‘love jihad’ actually sabotages the independence of all young adults in India because it gives backing to the authority of family and community over the individual. Meanwhile, whether it is the speech of the Uttar Pradesh CM one day or his Haryana counterpart the next day, it is difficult to see how they can bring a ‘law’ obstructing the marriages of Hindu women and Muslim men that is in tandem with our Constitution.

After UP, Haryana govt mulling law against ‘love jihad’

Their love jihad politics is played in the guise of providing security for women. But whether it is stalking or other forms of sexual harassment, why should these crimes against women be prosecuted on a religious basis? The plenitude of these crimes is a matter of shame for India. It also jeopardizes the future of this country both socially and economically. Instead of playing myopic and divisive games with this issue, the Uttar Pradesh and Haryana governments should indeed focus on providing greater safety for women. This of course means creating an environment where their choices are respected, instead of undermined and punished. The two states would also do well to make the Special Marriage Act better known to the public, so that any two citizens professing different religions can get married without the conundrum of religious conversion.