Dispur: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma backed the law against forceful religious conversion and concealing identity during marriage and said that the state government will soon bring a law to check the under which the bride and groom will have to disclose their religion and income in official documents a month before the wedding.
Sarma said that the aim of this 'marriage bill' will be to check the menace of ‘love jihad’ and will encompass all communities. “Love jihad doesn’t only mean a Muslim cheating a Hindu. It could happen among Hindus as well. If a Hindu boy uses dubious means to entrap and marry a Hindu girl that is also a form of ‘love jihad’,” Sarma told reporters on Saturday.
Asserting that a 'Hindu boy lying to a Hindu girl' constituted as Jihad, he said that the law will be introduced soon in the Assam Assembly after the Cow protection Bill and two-child policy. Assam will be the latest BJP-ruled state to pass such an anti-conversion bill after UP, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat.
Sarma said, "We had mentioned it in our election manifesto. Our government is just two months old. First, we will bring the cow protection law, next month we will notify the two-child norm and later we will bring it."
"We don't want to use the term 'Love Jihad' since we feel even a Hindu should not cheat a Hindu. We will bring a law, but it would not be like it will be against only Muslims. Our law will be equal in case of Hindus and Muslims," the Chief Minister said.
(with agency inputs)