After Anti-conversion Bill, Love Jihad law soon

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru, Dec.13 Even as the state government faces severe opposition to its proposal to table the Anti-conversion bill in the ongoing winter session of the Legislature which began in Belagavi on Monday, another controversy is in the offing with the the government pushing for the ‘Prohibition of Love Jihad’ Act to check inter-faith marriages especially in coastal districts of the state.

Speaking to reporters in Belagavi on Monday, Energy, Kannada and Culture Minister K. Sunil Kumar said that as promised, the BJP government has implemented the Anti-Cow Slaughter Bill which has become a legislation too in the state.

Likewise, the government will table the Prohibition of Love Jihad bill in the ongoing session and make it legislation, the minister said.

This will check inter-faith marriages that are rampant in some districts in the coastal region, he said.

Meanwhile soon after his arrival at Belagavi Airport, Chief Minister Basavaraja Bommai said several Bills from the legal department are coming up before the Legislature Committee. A decision would be taken on tabling the bills in the ongoing session. Even the Anti-Conversion Bill would be presented before the Cabinet meeting and would then be tabled in the Legislative Assembly.

Inter-faith marriages in Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts are posing a big problem for law enforcing authorities and also for the government. Attacking each other on the issue of inter-faith marriages has been a bone of contention between the Congress and BJP for many years.

The Prohibition of Love Jihad Act is likely to generate a lot of heat in the Assembly as Congress legislators are up in arms against the BJP’s alleged attempts to communalise politics in coastal areas.