Political parties, activists slam BJP for raking up 'love jihad'

Women groups lambast the rhetoric as nothing but a 'myth' and 'handiwork of evil minds'

After Opposition parties slammed the BJP for raking up the ‘baseless’ issue of ‘love jihad’, women groups and social activists today condemned the “politics” that was fuelling the issue.

The ruling Samajwadi Party, Congress and BJP had alleged that that the BJP which had secured a landslide victory in Uttar Pradesh through communal polarization was now attempting to divide the society through an emotive issue like ‘love – jihad’.

Women groups which have been at the forefront of condemning the attempt to ‘communalise’ inter -faith marriages of couples, lambasted love jihad as nothing but a “myth” and the ‘handiwork of evil minds.’

 

Addressing the media in the capital, Advocate and civil rights activist Vrinda Grover lambasted the BJP and its affiliated Sangh organizations which have been stoking communal passions for electoral gains as was witnessed in Uttar Pradesh.

“There is no data or evidence to even suggest that such a conspiracy of ‘Love Jihad’ exists”, she said. If cases of discord in inter-religious or inter-caste marriages emerge those should be dealt with sensitively she said.

All India Democratic Women Association AIDWA’s Jagmati Sangwan highlighted how politicians were creating furore over inter-faith marriages while atrocities against Dalits and backward castes who had married into higher castes were never highlighted.

Social Activist Teeesta Setalvad also criticized the communal politics of the BJP and asserted that as a free secular democratic country, all citizens have the right to exercise choice and to marry out of choice.

In the run up to the polls, the issue has been gaining momentum. A recent video has surfaced where BJP MP Yogi Adityanath from Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh is allegedly seen exhorting a large crowd, "If they take one Hindu girl, we will take 100 Muslims girls."

"The way Hindu girls are insulted, I don't think a civilised soceity would accept it. One community is allowed to spread anarchy. If the government is not doing anything, then the Hindus will have to take matters into their own hands," Adityanath says. Meanwhile, the MP has said the veracity of the clip needs to be examined.

The Samajwadi Party has hit out at the BJP as they seen in it a design to garner votes. While bypolls are due on September 13 to 11 assembly seats in the state; Uttar Pradesh goes to polls in 2017.

UP minister and SP senior leader Azam Khan accused the BJP of "trying to humiliate Muslims" by raking up such “baseless issues”. Earlier Akhilesh Yadav, UP chief minister had hit out at the BJP on the love jihad issue. Akhilesh said, “Every other issue in UP is being politicised. Everyone wants to do politics over UP and gain mileage.”

BSP leader Swamy Prasad Maurya while slamming the BJP for coining the term ‘love jihad’ also saw a collusion of the ruling SP with the BJP in this. Describing it as a as "handiwork of mad minds", he alleged that it was an attempt to divide the society for electoral gains. He also accused the SP government for failing to control communal violence in the state.

The Congress too has lashed out at the BJP but senior leaders like Digvijay Singh who are generally outspoken on such issues have refrained from airing their views in public. The state unit however has been condemning the attempt to create fissures in a state that has already witnessed violence like that of the recent Muzaffarnagar riots.