Eyes on polls: What’s behind Maharashtra’s push for love jihad law

In line with the Hindutva ideology, the Bharatiya Janata Party-led MahaYuti-NDA government in Maharashtra has set the ball rolling toward enacting a law on love jihad. 

The term “love jihad” is often used by Hindu groups and the BJP to describe an alleged campaign by Muslim men to convert Hindu girls under the pretext of marriage.

For Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who leads the BJP-Shiv Sena-NCP alliance, getting such a law passed is unlikely to be a challenge, given the brute majority his government enjoys in the 288-member Maharashtra Legislative Assembly.

Last week, the  state government formed a seven-member committee headed by the Director General of Police to examine the legal and technical aspects of framing a law on love jihad. 

If all proceeds as planned, the bill could be introduced during the monsoon session of the Maharashtra legislature in Mumbai. 

This move follows long-standing demands from several BJP leaders and right-wing groups such as the Hindu Janajagruti Samiti and Sanatan Sanstha. It also comes ahead of local body elections in which voters in all 29 municipal corporations and a majority of the municipal councils—accounting for over 60 per cent of the state’s population—will exercise their franchise. 

With the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi-I.N.D.I.A bloc demoralised after humiliating defeats in Haryana, Maharashtra, and Delhi, and facing internal conflicts, the BJP sees an opportunity to advance its goal of “triple-engine sarkar” in the states.

The government-appointed committee will also review similar laws in other states and recommend legal provisions. The Uttar Pradesh model is surely before them. 

A government resolution/notification on the issue states, “Elected representatives (sitting and former), various organisations, and citizens have made representations to the state government seeking enactment of legislation to curb ‘Love Jihad’ and forced conversions in the state. Some states have already enacted such laws. A special committee has been established to study the present situation and suggest measures to curb love jihad, forced conversions, and conversions done through cheating.”

However, opposition parties, including the Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party, Asaduddin Owaisi’s All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), and even BJP’s ally Ramdas Athawale’s Republican Party of India (Athawale), have opposed the move. 

In the run-up to the 2024 Lok Sabha and Maharashtra Vidhan Sabha elections, the Sakal Hindu Samaj—an umbrella organisation of Hindutva and right-wing organisations—organised Hindu Jan Akrosh Morcha rallies. These protests demanded laws against “love jihad” and “land jihad,” action against Bangladeshi infiltrators, and the realisation of a Hindu Rashtra. Several members of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), Bajrang Dal, and Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) have also backed the rallies. 

Reacting sharply to the government move, Owaisi said, “The Maharashtra government seems to have no other work except investigating interfaith marriages. It has now set up a panel to make a law against ‘love jihad.’ Even the Modi government has said there’s no definition of love jihad, and many investigative agencies have debunked this as a conspiracy theory. The BNS already criminalises promising to marry after hiding one’s religious identity. Forced religious conversion is also a crime.” According to him, this is just an attempt to create an “Uncle Sarkar.”

“The government interferes in who you marry, what you eat, which language you speak, where you live, and what religion you believe in,” the Hyderabad MP added.

Samajwadi Party’s Maharashtra President and MLA Abu Asim Azmi termed the decision arbitrary and restrictive. “We have no objections; they can make whatever law they want. Muslim boys are also converting to Hinduism, and Muslim girls are marrying Hindus. The Constitution grants this right. They are interfering as they please—what can we do about it?” he said.

Defending the move, Fadnavis said, “The Supreme Court and the Kerala High Court (in the past) have made observations about love jihad… It is a reality, and in Maharashtra, incidents of women being duped into marriage and then abandoned once children are born are on the rise.” He further added that there was no harm in interfaith marriages, but actions must be taken when a woman is degraded and abandoned after marriage.

Senior BJP leader and Maharashtra Minister for Skill, Employment, Entrepreneurship, and Innovation Mangal Prabhat Lodha termed love jihad a serious issue and justified the move. During the first term of the MahaYuti government, when Lodha was in charge of the Women and Child Development Department ministry, he had set up the Interfaith Marriage Coordination Committee, which played a significant role in highlighting such incidents.

Lodha also listed recent incidents in Mumbai and surrounding areas in recent times: “Shraddha Walkar was brutally murdered by Aftab Amin. Rupali Chandanshive was killed by Iqbal Sheikh. Poonam Kshirsagar was murdered by Nizam Khan. Yashashree Shinde from Uran was killed by Dawood Sheikh. Sonam Shukla from Malad tragically lost her life at the hands of Shahjib Ansari. How can one claim that love jihad is not happening when such incidents are evident before us?”

He added that the committee would study anti-love jihad and anti-conversion laws in other states before drafting Maharashtra’s version.

Political analyst and Urdu journalist Aijaz Ahmed Ansari, however, dismissed the term “love jihad” as misleading.  “The word ‘love jihad’ is confusing. It is difficult to understand. These marriages have happened because of love and relationships. The word jihad itself is being misinterpreted. In fact, there should be jihad to ensure that poverty is removed; there should be jihad to ensure that all get education,” he said.