Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition in the Karnataka Assembly Siddaramaiah on Tuesday, called out the Uttar Pradesh Government for enacting an ordinance that curbs religious conversions for the sake of marriage, among others.
His comments come in the wake of the Uttar Pradesh governor assenting to an ordinance against forcible or fraudulent religious conversions, which provides for imprisonment of up to 10 years and a fine of up to Rs 50,000 under different categories.
On Tuesday, Siddaramaiah stated that inter-religious marriages between Hindus and Muslims have been occurring in the county from the time of the Mughals and added that the constitution does not provide for implementing such a law.
Terming UP’s ordinance as unconstitutional, Siddaramaiah said after crossing a certain age everyone has the right to marry a person of choice.
He said there is nothing in the constitution which specifies that a person has to choose a life partner from a specific community.
“This ordinance is without any sanity or discretion,” he claimed.
If such a law is questioned in the court, it will get dismissed. If the government goes ahead with bringing in such a law despite it being against the constitution, it will prove the true intentions of the government, he said. “It makes clear the malicious intent of the BJP to disturb peace in the society,” he said.
“Law on ‘Love Jihad’ implemented in Uttar Pradesh is unconstitutional. Citizens who have reached legal marriage age are free to choose their partners to marry. There is no law in our country that prohibits anyone from selecting partners from any particular community or religion,” he tweeted.
Last month, Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa had said that the Karnataka government will take strong measures to put an end to religious conversions in the name of love and marriage.
Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai had also said that the government was considering a law against religious conversion for the sake of marriage.
Reacting to Siddaramaih’s statement, Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister J C Madhuswamy stated there is no proposal to enact a law against religious conversion for the sake of marriage before the government for now.
“I don”t know why he (Siddaramaiah) is issuing statements by guesswork. Being the scrutiny committee chairman,I can say that no such proposal has come before me yet,” he added.
(With inputs from PTI)
