New Delhi: Haryana deputy chief minister Dushyant Chautala has said that he doesn’t agree with the term “love jihad”, and has no issue with anyone willingly marrying a person of another faith.
In an interview to NDTV, Chautala said: “I don’t agree with this term called ‘love jihad’. We will get a law specifically for checking forceful religious conversion and we will support it. If anybody converts willingly or marries to a partner of another faith, then there is no bar.”
Chautala’s comments come against the backdrop of the Haryana government preparing to table a Bill on “love jihad” during the budget session of the Haryana Vidhan Sabha on March 5. “Love jihad” is a term used by right-wing leaders that accuses Muslim men of conspiring to marry Hindu women and convert them into Islam forcefully.
Earlier, Chautala met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi amid the farmers’ protest, and demanded that minimum support price (MSP) to remain. He had even threatened to quit the state government if he is unable to ensure MSP for the procurement of farmers’ crops.
Chautala is the leader of Jannayak Janata Party (JJP), which is an ally of the BJP in Haryana.
Mohsin Chaudhary, head of JJP’s minority cell told NDTV, “We had organised a meeting of people from Mewat with our leader Dushyant Chautala. He addressed our concern regarding the new law to be introduced in assembly.”
According to an RTI reply, four cases of “love jihad” have been lodged in Haryana over the past three years, the Hindu reported. The report further said that the police have moved to quash FIRs in two of the cases and a third ended in an acquittal. The fourth case is in the court.
Earlier this week, the BJP government introduced “love jihad” Bill in the Madhya Pradesh assembly. Uttar Pradesh had already passed the law last year, under which at least 14 cases have been registered and 51 arrested, of whom 49 are in jail. Many other BJP-ruled states, such as Karnataka and Gujarat, have also either introduced similar Bills or have mulled them.