Bihar BJP leader Sushil Modi today claimed his party never used the term "love-jihad", an expression which emerged in the run up to the recent bypolls in Uttar Pradesh, but added that it was against "forcible conversion" for inter-religion marriages.
Clarifying his position after he was quoted in an interview that they would have "contradicted" Yogi Adityanath had the BJP MP said in Bihar what he had in UP, Sushil Modi said the interview was given before the by-poll results were announced on September 16.
Congress leader Anand Sharma used Sushil Modi's comments to target Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP, saying they should have listened to the Bihar leader.
"Only after the drubbing have they woken up," Sharma said.
BJP failed to secure a good showing in the byelections in UP and lost eight of the 11 Assembly seats where polling was held.
Adityanath, BJP's star campaigner in UP, had aggressively used the "love-jihad" term in what many saw as an attempt to polarise voters.
"What I said has no connection with UP polls. Insofar as 'love-jihad' is concerned, BJP has never used the word," Sushil Modi said.
