KOLKATA/BANKURA: If it comes to office, the Bengal BJP government will be requested to bring a law to prevent “love jihad” on the lines of the legislation put forward by the Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh governments. Madhya Pradesh’s home minister Narottam Mishra, who had earlier advocated laws to prevent religious conversion for marriage, on Monday said he would personally request the government in Bengal to implement that.
Mishra, addressing mediapersons in Bankura on Monday, said: “If BJP forms a government here, then I will personally request the chief minister to implement a law against love jihad in Bengal.”
In January this year, governor Anandiben Patel approved the Madhya Pradesh Freedom of Religion Ordinance, 2020 making religious conversion for marriage a non-bailable offence.
Mishra, who had earlier said Bengal too needs a freedom of religion bill, said: “It has been implemented in MP and UP. I have said it earlier and I want to reiterate that.”
Bengal BJP spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya said they will ponder over it at the right time. “Love jihad has been coined by a Communist. We don’t have anything specific on the issue right now, we will cross the bridge when it comes,” he said.
“It is an issue that is troubling society. We have to see how to tackle it — whether through legislation or by any other means,” said Bengal BJP general secretary Sayantan Basu, adding, “There is no denying the fact the love jihad is a cause for serious concern in Bengal, especially in districts like South 24 Parganas, Murshidabad, Malda and parts of Nadia. The problem is even more grave here than in Uttar Pradesh.”
Trinamool Congress reacted sharply. “Mishra could get away with such a statement just because it is a democratic state and we believe in freedom of speech. How can any party determine what a person should eat or wear? No party can have a say in whom a person wants to marry. It seems BJP is strategically spreading a divide before polls to create tension and polarize people,” said TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh.
Kalidas Mukhopadhyay, Bankura district president of TMC, said Mishra should better focus on the law-and-order in his own state. “People are better in Bengal under CM Mamata Banerjee,” he said.