The issue of "love Jihad' is evidently making the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party anxious, and just days after a wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), launched a campaign against it, BJP is set to rake up the issue in its two-day state executive committee meet in Uttar Pradesh that began on Saturday.
"Love Jihad" is a concept wherein a Hindu girl is allegedly converted to Islam through marriage, and is seen by right-wing Hindu groups as a conspiracy by Muslim youths to lure young girls and marry them to spread their religion.
Newly-anointed BJP President, Amit Shah, inaugurated the meeting aimed at laying down a policy for the state's party unit for the 2017 Assembly elections. While poll strategy will be at the top of the agenda for the BJP in Uttar Pradesh, reports suggested that there could be serious debates on "Love Jihad" as well.
"Issues of 'love jihad' and conversion of Hindus would be raised during discussions over law and order situation in the state and the party will also draft its future action plan to fight against these issues," state party president Laxmikant Bajpai told the Indian Express.
The recent case of the alleged rape and "forced conversion" of a Hindu girl to Islam in Meerut had angered Hindu right-wing groups, though the allegations were later contested by the police.
Earlier this month, RSS wing Dharma Jagran Manch had launched a campaign, in which they called upon Hindus to "fight" love jihad and to not "fall prey" to youths who lure women to convert their religion, the Indian Express had reported.
In the communally sensitive state of Uttar Pradesh, this issue could take serious proportions, and how BJP chooses to tackle it will impact its poll results in the upcoming bypolls and the state elections three years later.
