Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Sunday said that `love jihad’ would not be allowed in the State and if need be, a more stringent law against it would be framed.
Mr. Chouhan’s statement – made at an event marking the martyrdom day of the tribal icon Tantya Bhil at Indore’s Patalpani -- comes days after he announced the formation of a committee for Uniform Civil Code in the State.
“Some people from other religions, if they can’t buy tribal land, they marry the daughter of a tribal family just to buy land. This is not love, it is ‘jihad’ in the name of love, and I will not allow this game of ‘love jihad’ in Madhya Pradesh at any cost. We will not be able to tolerate it if someone cheats our daughters by marrying them into 35 pieces. If needed, a stricter law will be made against `love jihad’,” said Mr. Chouhan, bringing up the recent Shraddha murder case in Delhi.
The State already has an anti-conversion law -- the Madhya Pradesh Freedom of Religion Act, 2021 -- that is usually referred to as the Love Jihad law. In November, the Madhya Pradesh High Court had restrained the State government from prosecuting adult citizens “if they solemnise the marriage of their own volition”.
At Sunday’s event, the Chief Minister also explained the recently-implemented Panchayat (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act (or PESA), 1996 in 89 blocks of the State. He also announced that the Patalpani Railway Station would be named after Tantya Bhil or Tantya Mama, a freedom fighter who had a “Robinhood-like image” among the tribals.
Recently, both Mr. Chouhan, and Congress president Rahul Gandhi (during the course of his `Bharat Jodo Yatra’) had visited Tantya Mama’s birthplace in Khandwa. With the 2023 Assembly elections fast approaching, both the BJP and the Congress are eyeing the tribal vote by celebrating the legacy of tribal icons.
While Mr. Chouhan has undertaken several initiatives to improve outreach among the tribals, he has assumed a more aggressive avatar vis-à-vis issues such as interfaith marriages and conversions, since returning to power in 2020.
