Taking a strident stand, the BJP government in Karnataka is planning to follow the footsteps of Uttar Pradesh by banning both cow slaughter and love jihad by passing suitable legislations.
BJP state president Nalin Kumar Kateel said that the two separate bills to ban cow slaughter and 'love jihad' are most likely to be placed in the forthcoming legislative session which starts from Monday.
The BJP executive committee held in Belagavi has passed a resolution urging the Karnataka government to formulate or amend laws at the earliest to curb both cow slaughter and “love jihad”.
The meeting was attended by chief minister BS Yediyurappa, BJP national general secretary Arun Singh and Kateel among other senior party functionaries.
“We discussed how some terror organisations use love jihad as a tool to convert innocent Hindu women. In view of this larger threat, the party resolved to request the state government to enact laws to stop this practice which is a social evil,” Kateel said after the meeting.
Keeping in view our firm commitment to protecting our culture and Indianness, the committee has passed these two resolutions unanimously, he added.
Kateel claimed that Hindu women are being lured in the name of love and are forced to convert to other religions. We want this to stop. Therefore, we will bring the most stringent law to ban love jihad, he said.
On cow slaughter, national general secretary CT Ravi said the BJP will never deviate from its promise of a blanket ban.
“Cow is no less than a mother to the Hindus”, and the BJP “cannot keep its eyes closed” when thousands of cows are slaughtered in the state, Kateel added to Ravi’s comments.