New Delhi, India (September 08, 2014): As per media reports, a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Sangeet Som, who is suspected to have instigated last year’s deadly communal violence in Western Uttar Pradesh, has now called a ‘mahapanchayat’ on the controversial ‘love jihad’ issue.
According to Hindustan Times (HT) the BJP, however, distanced itself from Som’s plans, despite the party’s recent tenor of raking up communally sensitive issues in an apparent attempt to polarise voters for the by-elections to the four assembly seats of Western Uttar Pradesh on September 13.
“BJP is not with Som. The state unit of the BJP is responsible for local development. The party has nothing to say on the issue,” said BJP’s India level spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi.
“It is not a BJP agenda. The BJP is not raising the issue nationally. Leaders of different religions should come together to solve this,” Trivedi said.
The term ‘love jihad’ is being used by BJP politicians and Hindutva leaders to describe relationships between Muslim men and Hindu women, and to characterise such relationships as a strategy aimed at conversion and long-term demographic change.
During a public function on Sept. 07 at Ghaziabad RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat said that the girls should be taught the meaning and ways to save themselves from the “Love Jihad trap”.
Addressing the closing session of the two-day All India Women Coordination Conclave at Krishna Dental College in Mohan Nagar here, the RSS chief exhorted the women to work towards their emancipation and empowerment.