Hindustan Times (Jalandhar)

Dushyant disagrees with term ‘love jihad’

- HT Correspond­ent letterschd@hindustant­imes.com

CHANDIGARH: Haryana deputy chief minister Dushyant Chautala said on Thursday that he did not agree with the term “love jihad” used by home minister Anil Vij with reference to the proposed Freedom of Religion Bill being tabled in the assembly, where the budget session set to begin on Friday.

HANDIGARH: Haryana deputy chief minister Dushyant Chautala said on Thursday that he did not agree with the term “love jihad” used by state home minister Anil Vij with reference to the proposed Freedom of Religion Bill being tabled in assembly. Vij has frequently called the proposed legislatio­n as a law against “love jihad”, a term used by right-wing groups alleging a conspiracy by Muslim men to convert Hindu women to Islam by way of marriage.

Speaking to a television channel, the deputy chief minister said that his Jannayak Janta Party (JJP), an ally of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, will support the move to enact a law for stopping forced religious conversion. “But if someone is willing to convert on his own, there should not be a bar,’’ he said. Chautala’s disagreeme­nt on Vij’s “love jihad” label for the Freedom of Religion Bill came against a backdrop of growing discord between him and the home minister, particular­ly in the wake of various inquiries

initiated in excise-related matters allegedly at Vij’s behest. The excise and taxation portfolio is held by the deputy chief minister.

Vij last week said the state government was planning to introduce a bill to curb “love jihad” in the coming assembly session. The proposed legislatio­n is called the Haryana Freedom of Religion Bill.

The home minister on November 6 last year told the state assembly that the government was deliberati­ng on enacting a law to check forced religious conversion. Vij had said the government was also compiling informatio­n about such instances.

 ??  ?? Dushyant Chautala
Dushyant Chautala

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