Maharashtra sets up committee to draft ‘love jihad’ law

The “love jihad” matter was last brought up by the ruling Mahayuti alliance during the Lok Sabha election campaign last year

Mumbai: On a day when the world celebrates demonstrations of love, the Maharashtra government on February 14 set up a committee under state police chief Rashmi Shukla that has been tasked with preparing a draft for a law “to prevent love jihad and fraudulent or forced conversions”.

Maharashtra sets up committee to draft ‘love jihad’ law(Bloomberg/Hollie Adams)

The state government’s main aim behind the decision, according to a government officer, is “to control Hindu girls getting married to Muslim men”. Love jihad is a controversial term used by Hindu nationalists who believe that Muslim men are luring Hindu women to marry them and convert them to Islam in a bid to take over the country.

According to a government resolution (GR) issued on Friday, which was also Valentine’s Day, the decision to set up the committee was taken after many serving and former elected representatives raised concerns about supposed instances of love jihad, inter-religious marriages and forced conversions. The committee will study similar laws enacted by other states and prepare a draft of such a legislation. It will also suggest measures to tackle the issue, said the GR.

Apart from Shukla, the committee will have six other members, including the secretaries of four state government departments — women and child welfare, law and judiciary, minority welfare, and social justice — and two other officers from the home and law departments. The GR does not mention any deadline for the committee to submit its report.

The “love jihad” matter was last brought up by the ruling Mahayuti alliance during the Lok Sabha election campaign last year, when the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Devendra Fadnavis, the deputy chief minister at the time, claimed that forced conversions had taken place in 14 out of 48 parliamentary segments in Maharashtra. Several Hindu right-wing outfits, as well as BJP leaders such as Nitesh Rane, have been vocal against “love jihad”.

The previous Mahayuti government had also formed a committee under the women and child welfare minister at the time to take up supposed cases of “love jihad”, but it did not make much headway.

After the GR was issued on Friday, several opposition leaders criticised the state government for the move. Shiv Sena (UBT) deputy leader and spokesperson Sushama Andhare said, “If they have issued the GR on Valentine’s Day, it may have been done on purpose. Why did they then introduce the concept of safe homes for interreligious marriages to prevent honour killings in Maharashtra? There is no cohesion in decision-making. This is a diametrically opposite decision. The government tries to show it’s rational, but it’s not. They are full of hate.”

Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) chief spokesperson Mahesh Tapase said, “Not every marriage is love jihad. Love defies all laws towards the divine union of souls. Inter-religious marriages will still happen even if there are anti-love-jihad laws.”

Anand Paranjpe, spokesperson for Ajit Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party, which is part of the Mahayuti government, said, “We are against radicalisation in the name of religion. When the draft comes before us, we will study it and take our stand.”