Rajeev Yadav of Rihai Manch calls the idea illegal, communal, anti-women, anti-Muslim and Brahmanical in nature
Mohd Aasif | Clarion India
NEW DELHI – The Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh is all set to promulgate an ordinance against religious conversions, reported news agency IANS.
According to a source quoted by the agency, “this is being done in view of the increasing number of cases of ‘love jihad’ in the state”.
RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, during his two-day visit to Lucknow this week, also raised the issue of religious conversions, the news agency quoted another source.
Right-wing elements have campaigned to malign Muslim community in the name of ‘love jihad’ claiming that Muslim men are involved in ‘love jihad’ to convert Hindu girls into Islam. However, it has never been established that such a conspiracy exists.
Rajeev Yadav, general secretary of Rihai Manch, called Yogi’s plan flawed. He said the ordinance was highly illegal, unconstitutional, communal, anti-women, anti-Muslim and Brahmanical in nature. Such a law will give license to communal forces to take law into their hands, he added.
The anti-conversion laws in various states seek to prevent any person from converting or attempting to convert, either directly or otherwise, another person through ‘forcible’ or ‘fraudulent’ means, or by ‘allurement’ or ‘inducement’.
“The law in Uttar Pradesh would be quite similar in nature which would make religious conversions a complex and cumbersome procedure,” said an official in the law department.
Word ‘alluring’ indicates that women are inferior creatures and not able to make right decisions. “Saffron ideology and manuwadi people have always propagated the politics of hate and supremacy. There may be a case in future that the government will bring a law to prevent marriage between Upper Caste and Lower Caste people”, said Yadav.
The ordinance is believed to be a threat to the communal harmony of the society. Bringing the fact into notice of male adults being implicated in fake charges of abduction and rapes in case a couple gets married with their own choice. “It will only increase the violence against Muslim youth in the state”, said Azad, a resident of UP and an activist.
As a matter of fact, it is nearly impossible to distinguish if an inter-religion marriage is a case of alleged controversial ‘love jihad’. “The ordinance is nothing but an outcome of hate politics”, said Azad.
At present, eight states have anti-conversion laws – Arunachal Pradesh, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, and Uttarakhand.
Odisha was the first state to enact this law in 1967, followed by Madhya Pradesh, in 1968.
“Uttar Pradesh could soon become the ninth state,” said the law department official.
The state government has set up a special investigation team (SIT) to probe 11 cases of alleged ‘love jihad’ in Kanpur.
