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Karnataka will bring in law against ‘love jihad’: State minister

"We had said the BJP govt will bring in anti-cow slaughter and anti-conversion laws. I will go a step ahead and say that in the days to come, we will bring a law against love jihad,” Kannada and Culture minister V Sunil Kumar said.

On the sidelines of the Karnataka Assembly session that began Monday, state Kannada and Culture minister V Sunil Kumar said that the government would bring in a law prohibiting ‘love jihad’ in the days to come.

This comes as the BJP government prepares to table the anti-conversion Bill in the Winter Session, which is held at the Suvarna Vidhana Soudha in Belagavi, North Karnataka.

“We had always stated that the BJP government will bring in anti-cow slaughter and anti-conversion laws. We are committed to it. I will go a step ahead and say that in the days to come, we will bring a law against love jihad,” Kumar said.

“Some organisations publicly claim that they don’t indulge in religious conversion and that is not their intention. Then why are they opposed to the anti-conversion law? On one side they say they don’t do such things and on the other side they oppose the Bill,” he claimed, adding that the BJP in its 2018 election manifesto had promised an anti-cow slaughter law, which was enacted earlier this year.

On the law against ‘love jihad’, the Karnataka government had earlier said that officials have been directed to gather information on an ordinance promulgated in Uttar Pradesh against forced religious conversion. Along with Uttar Pradesh, the BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh have legislations against religious conversion solely for the purpose of marriage.

Regarding the anti-conversion law, some Christian organisations have announced a protest in Belagavi against the Bill on December 17. Chief Minister Basavraj Bommai has justified the Bill, saying “there will be opinions on any new law, but the government has to enact them in the public interest”.