Reacting to Uttar Pradesh government’s order prescribing up to 10 years imprisonment for those found guilty of religious conversions by marriage, coercion, deceit or enticement, Samajwadi Party (SP) MP from Moradabad ST Hasan advised Muslim boys to consider Hindu girls their ‘sisters’.
“Consider all Hindu girls as your sisters. Save yourself, do not give in to any temptation,” Hasan said, adding that Love Jihad was nothing but a political stunt.
“Love jihad is a political stunt. In our country, people choose their life partners irrespective of religion. Hindus marry Muslims and vice versa. However, the numbers are very low. But if you dig deep into ‘love jihad’ cases, you would find that girls know that boys are Muslims. But due to societal pressure or internal issues in the family, they lie and it becomes a case of Love Jihad,” he said.
The MP was reacting to Yogi Adityanath cabinet’s approval to draft an ordinance outlawing religious conversions by marriage and deceit. The cabinet’s approval makes UP the first state to propose a law for regulating interfaith relationships.
The state government’s order came on November 24, roughly a month after Yogi vowed to end ‘love jihad’, a term used by right-wing activists to describe marital relationships between Muslim men and Hindu women. However, the courts and the Union government do not officially recognise the term.
