Union Min justifies need for Love Jihad law in Kerala; claims 'Christians are worried'

After BJP promised to outlaw Love Jihad in its Kerala election manifesto, MoS MEA V Muraleedharan on Monday justified the need for such an assurance. Already, state governments in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh have enacted similar laws while BJP-ruled states in Assam, Haryana, and Karnataka are also contemplating the same. However, the former Kerala BJP president asserted that this issue always existed in society. Claiming that Christians are worried about marriages happening solely for the purpose of conversion. Moreover, he urged other mainstream parties to also raise concerns about 'Love Jihad'. 

As per some organizations, 'Love Jihad' refers to inter-religious marriages where the woman converts to Islam either by force or guile in order to marry a Muslim man. In 2010, the then Kerala Chief Minister VS Achuthanandan had accused PFI and some other organizations of planning to turn the state into a Muslim-majority state by doling out money. However, G Kishan Reddy told the Parliament in 2020 that 'Love Jihad' is not defined under the current laws and that no such case has been reported by any of the Central agencies. 

Kerala Assembly polls

In the 2016 Kerala Assembly election, the CPI(M)-led Left Front swept the 140-member Assembly by bagging 91 seats. In contrast, the candidates of the UDF could win from only 47 constituencies. Subsequently, CPI(M) leader Pinarayi Vijayan was sworn-in as the Chief Minister of Kerala on May 25, 2016. While the UDF made huge dividends in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls by winning 19 out of 20 seats in the state, the ruling alliance staged a comeback in the local body polls held in December 2020 by winning 7,262 seats as against that of UDF and NDA that could win 5,893 and 1,182 seats respectively.

Though Pinarayi Vijayan remains the CM face for LDF, UDF has refrained from projecting any Chief Ministerial candidate for the upcoming election. On the other hand, BJP is hoping to make inroads in the state by roping in Metroman E Sreedharan as its election candidate from Palakkad. In Kerala, 140 seats are up for grabs and people will be able to cast their votes at 40,771 polling stations. While the polling will be conducted in a single phase on April 6, the counting of votes is scheduled for May 2.