Bharatiya Janata Party MP Dharambir Singh on Thursday termed live-in relationships a “dangerous disease” and a serious issue and demanded that the government and Parliament ‘make a law to protect Indian culture from becoming like the Western one.’ Singh was speaking in the Lok Sabha during ‘Zero Hour’.
“I want to bring to the notice of the government and Parliament a very serious issue. Indian culture is known for its philosophy of ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam (world is one family) and brotherhood. Our social fabric is different from others in the world. The whole world is impressed by our unity in diversity,” the MP from Bhiwani-Mahendragarh said, as PTI reported.
Singh also claimed that the lack of consent from families was responsible for high divorce rates in love marriages. He said that the consent of the parents of the bride and groom should, therefore, be made mandatory for such alliances.
Highlighting India’s long tradition of arranged marriages, Singh said a large section of society even to this day gives priority to marriages arranged by parents or relatives.
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The BJP MP further mentioned how marriages have been a poised and sacred relation for ages and generations, given the divorce rate is about 1.1 per cent in India as compared to America, which has a rate of about 40 per cent. He observed that the rate of divorce in arranged marriages is very low. However, he mentioned that a high number of divorce rates have been recorded recently, love marriages being the main reason behind this.
Therefore, it is suggested that obtaining the consent of the mother and father of the bride and groom should be mandated in love marriages because, in large parts of the country, marriage does not happen in the same ‘gotra’, and due to love marriages, there are a lot of conflicts in the villages. Scores of families are destroyed in these conflicts; therefore, the consent of both families is important, he said.
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Singh stated that a ‘new disease’ has emerged, and this social evil is called a ‘live-in relationship’. Further, he added that in this relationship, ‘Man and woman live together without even getting married.’
Singh pointed out that instances of such relationships are very common in the West, but “this evil is fast spreading in our society too, with horrible consequences”. Citing an example of a recent case that happened in Delhi where a girl was killed by her live-in partner, he said, ‘the case of Shraddha (Walkar) and Aftab (Poonawala) had come to light in which both were in a live-in relationship.’
He highlighted that such cases are quite common and keep getting noticed. He added while referring to the gruesome case in Delhi of a man allegedly killing his live-in partner and chopping her body into pieces.
He urged for legislation against live-in relationships, aiming to curb what he perceived as a threat to Indian cultural values.