Love Jihad is a women's rights issue: BJYM president Tejasvi Surya

BJP-ruled UP and MP have implemented laws against religious conversion for the sake of marriage and even Karnataka is mulling for the same

Defending the controversial law against 'Love Jihad', Bangalore South MP and BJP Yuva Morcha national president Tejasvi Surya on Friday said it was not a Hindu-Muslim issue, but a women's rights one.

"Unfortunately, it is being pitted as a Hindu-Muslim issue. If a non-Muslim woman marries a Muslim man, they lose a lot of rights. Should we not speak for them and ensure that if in case they chose to marry, they are given legal protection?" he said, adding that the law strives for the protection of rights of non-Muslim women.

Read: What is the definition of 'Love Jihad'?

Surya said this at the 'DH Sparks' event.

The BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh have implemented laws against religious conversion for the sake of marriage. Even Karnataka is mulling to do this.

On the BJP's core Hindutva ideology, Surya said that it was essentially a socio-political movement aimed at providing a "modern political dimension to all Hindu groups in an inclusive manner."

The Left, he said, has tried to label Hindutva as regressive and dominated by upper-caste ideals. "But, Hindutva has grown with the help of Dalit and OBC leaders. Smaller groups, the subaltern castes, are gaining strength by being part of the larger Hindutva coalition. Communities affected by Muslim aggression are also part of this," he said.

Also Read: 10 things to know about Uttar Pradesh's law on 'love jihad'

There are attempts to project that Hindutva and economic development are opposites, he said. "However, Hindutva stands for modernity, inclusiveness and has advocated new economic structures. In that sense, development and economic progress are key to Hindutva. Hindutva and economic development are two sides of the same coin," he contended.

When asked if the BJP was dividing people on the basis of religion, Surya said that the question should be aimed at those who had faith in theocratic religious states. "Hindutva can be aggressive, exclusive or divisive. It is a political response to aggression, religious conversion and such ideas that belief that only their faiths are true," he said.

On whether Hindutva and secularism can coexist, he said that the question should be whether faiths that advocate exclusive religious practices are compatible with secularism. "Is political Islam compatible? Is the Kingdom of Christ is compatible?"

Wistron unrest

To a question on the Wistron incident, he noted that one of the key conspirators was a leader of the Student Federation of India (SFI). Calling for a "deeper inquiry", he said: "Dots have to be connected to explore whether the attack led by a communist leader was to help China. Questions such as whether China gained from the incident and whether it was extending support to communists in India should be explored," he added.