Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], November 23 (ANI): Amid the uproar over ‘love jihad’, Trinamool Congress (TMC) Member of Parliament (MP) Nusrat Jahan on Monday said that love and jihad don’t go hand in hand and people come up with certain topics like this just before elections.
“Love is very personal. Love and jihad don’t go hand-in-hand. Just before polls, people come up with topics like this. It is a personal choice who you want to be with. Be in love and start falling in love with each other. Don’t make religion a political tool,” said Nusrat Jahan in reply to question at a press conference in Kolkata.
Actor-turned-politician Nusrat Jahan had herself married a person of another religion, businessman Nikhil Jain last year.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had recently announced that his government will enact a strict law to curb “love jihad” and forcible religious conversion. Prior to this, Shivraj Singh Chouhan-led BJP government in Madhya Pradesh had said the state would soon have a law against ‘love jihad’. Karnataka has also formulated a strict law against ‘Love Jihad’.
The Union Home Ministry on February 4 this year has clarified that the term ‘love jihad’ is not defined under the existing laws and no such case has been reported so far. No such case has been reported by any of the central agencies yet.
However, two cases from Kerala involving inter-faith marriages have been investigated by the National Investigation Agency, according to the Home Ministry.
West Bengal Assembly elections are scheduled to be held in 2021. With 294 seats, a keen contest awaits the state as Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) tries to wrest power from Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress. (ANI)
