Vikrant Shekhawat : Nov 20, 2020, 09:20 PM
Jaipur: Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Friday said that the word ‘Love Jihad” was manufactured by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to divide the nation and disturb its communal harmony.“Love Jihad is a word manufactured by the BJP to divide the nation and disturb communal harmony. Marriage is a matter of personal liberty, bringing a law to curb it is completely unconstitutional and it will not stand in any court of law. Jihad has no place in love,” Gehlot tweeted.Gehlot also said that marriage is a personal decision and the BJP is putting curbs on it.“They are creating an environment in the nation where consenting adults would be at the mercy of state power. Marriage is a personal decision and they are putting curbs on it, which is like snatching away personal liberty,” he said in another tweet.Gehlot said it seemed to be a “ploy to disrupt communal harmony, fuel social conflict and disregard constitutional provisions like the state not discriminating against citizens on any ground”.Hitting back at the Rajasthan CM for his statements, Rajasthan BJP chief Satish Poonia said, “In our culture, marriage isn’t just an individual choice, it also encompasses approval of religion and society.”“Agenda of ‘Love Jihad’, sufferings of our daughters are clear to everyone, and to ignore it only shows his (Ashok Gehlot’s) small thinking,” Poonia said.Earlier, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said his government will bring a strict law to curb “love jihad” and forcible religious conversion, citing an Allahabad High Court order.Responding to a query in Lok Sabha in February this year, the Union Home Ministry had clarified the term ‘love jihad’ is not defined under the existing laws and no such case has been reported so far.Madhya Pradesh Home Minister Narottam Mishra had already announced that the state government will bring a Bill against ‘love jihad’ in the next Assembly session that will have the provision of five years of rigorous imprisonment.