Cong, AAP accuse CM of trying ‘communalise’ assembly polls
BJP says religious conversion is serious issue for government; political analyst says CM trying to counter anti-incumbency
DEHRADUN: A day after chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami announced to make an existing law against forced religious conversions more stringent, opposition parties – the Congress and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) - on Friday accused the BJP government of “communalising” the next year’s state assembly election in the state.
Dhami made the statement after holding a meeting with top police officers at the state police headquarters in Dehradun. “Information will be gathered about incidents of forced religious conversions and ‘love jihad’ in the state with police working with more strictness against ’love jihad’ as the government will make the existing law more stringent.”
Under the Uttarakhand Freedom of Religion Act, 2018, “forced or fraudulent conversions done through force or allurement” are non-bailable offences and can lead to imprisonment up to five years.
Some rightwing groups in the country describe “love jihad” as an “organised conspiracy of Muslim men to trick Hindu women into marriage”.
BJP diverting attention of public: Congress
The Congress, which is eyeing to come back to power in the state, termed Dhami’s statement as an “attempt to communalise the upcoming polls”.
Congress state president Ganesh Godiyal said, “The BJP has deliberately raked this issue with only months left for the state polls. The BJP, which has been doing communal politics to divide the society, is shamelessly trying to infuse communalism in the state to benefit in the polls.”
Godiyal accused the BJP of “diverting the public’s attention from ‘actual’ issues” the state is facing.
“Today, the biggest issues in the state are unemployment and price rise of essential items which are drastically affecting the public in state. The BJP government in the past four and half years of its tenure did nothing on both the front and now to win the polls they are stooping to these dirty tricks,” said Godiyal.
The Congress state head also asserted that the Uttarakhand always had communal harmony which the “BJP is trying to damage”.
“But I am sure that they won’t succeed in their evil motives and people will give them a befitting reply in the upcoming polls,” said Godiyal. “If the government comes up with a law to make the state strong in terms of development then Congress will definitely play the role of a productive opposition.”
The AAP too accused the ruling BJP of giving the 2022 state polls a “communal colour”.
“This government did nothing for the development of the state in the last four and a half years other than changing three CMs. It is surely afraid of going to the polls with no work to show to the public. Hence, as usual, it has now come down to communalism in an attempt to win it,” said AAP state chief SS Kaler.
Religious conversion a key issue, says BJP
The BJP refuted allegations of the opposition parties by accusing them of just wanting to “be in the media by saying something negative against the state government”.
“The Congress and AAP have made it a habit to speak negatively against any action of the government with the sole intention of being in the media. They haven’t worked on ground for the polls all these years and just release some statements to the media against the government to maintain their political presence,” said BJP state vice president Devendra Bhasin.
On Dhami’s statement, he said, “The state government has taken significant steps on unemployment and price rise which are important issues. Similarly, religious conversion is also a serious issue for the state government on which it is working. There is no communal agenda in it.”
CM’s remark to counter anti-incumbency: Analyst
Political analyst and commentator Jai Singh Rawat said, “Dhami’s statement was purely to influence the upcoming polls considering the anti-incumbency factor in the state.”
“In Uttarakhand, no party had won two consecutive terms because voters here become upset against the ruling party very soon. And the present BJP government hasn’t done anything significant so far. Hence, this communal card,” said Rawat.
“In Uttarakhand’s every election, about 60% sitting MLAs and 20% ministers lose the polls. Even CMs have also lost the elections. The BJP is very well aware of this fact and want to win consecutive terms by defying anti-incumbency factor. For this, they will only intensify the communal factor as the polls near,” he said.
“Existing law toothless tiger,” says police officer A senior police officer, who was present in Thursday’s meeting with Dhami at the state police headquarters, said, “The existing law is just on the paper with not many powers to police to take action.”
“During the meeting, the CM asked that why police are not able to stop the ‘love jihad’ cases? To which we replied that it is like a toothless tiger with not many provisions in it for police to take action unlike the one in Uttar Pradesh. Then the CM said the law will be made more strong on the lines of Uttar Pradesh and directed home department officials on the same,” the officer said on condition of anonymity.
On the number of cases registered in the state on forced religious conversion in the past few years, he said: “Not many cases have been registered except one or two...”