'Love jihad' is hoax, sinister and unconstitutional: Chidambaram

NEW DELHI: Amid the BJP-led state governments planning laws against the alleged 'Love jihad', former Home Minister P Chidambaram on Thursday called it a "hoax", "sinister" and part of "majoritarian" agenda.

Speaking to IANS exclusively, the former Home Minister said it will be struck down by the courts as interfaith marriages are allowed in the law.

Chidambaram said, "Love jihad is a hoax. It is part of a sinister, majoritarian agenda. Interfaith marriages are allowed under the Indian law, it is even encouraged by some governments."

"The enacted or proposed laws of some state governments will be struck down as unconstitutional," he said.

Many governments led by the BJP are in the process of enacting the law against love jihad. The Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh has promulgated an ordinance against religious conversions.

This is being done in view of the increasing number of cases of alleged 'love jihad' in the state where Muslim men have concealed their religious identity to lure Hindu girls, sources said. The maximum number of such cases have been reported from Kanpur and Meerut.

According to sources, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, during his two-day visit to Lucknow this week, also raised the issue of religious conversion. The BJP-led Haryana government has also said that it will enact such a law in the state while many state governments are also on a similar path.

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'.

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. (IANS)

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