After Assam Congress President Bhupen Kumar Borah’s remarks on the triple murder incident, drawing references from the epic Mahabharat, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma warned against police action for ‘love jihad’ claims in the Hindu mythological text.
Borah, referring to the triple murder case in Golaghat district of Assam, where a 25-year-old man, killed his wife and her parents over family issues, said there has been ‘love jihad’ in the Mahabharat as well.
‘Love jihad’ is a term often used by right-wing activists to allege a ploy by Muslim men to lure Hindu women into religious conversion through marriage.
“There has been cross marriages going on since history, even among Kings since Mahabharata (sic). The main story in Mahabharata is that Gandhari’s family didn’t want her to marry Dhritarashtra. Bhisma Pitamah forced the marriage between them. Shakuni’s brother was imprisoned, and later the mama took revenge. That is also love jihad. Gandhari’s family objected, and as such she wore a cloth over her eyes. When Krishna came to take Rukmini, Arjun came in a different roop,” Borah said, as quoted by NDTV.
The Assam CM condemned the remarks saying that he should not have dragged Lord Krishna into the issue, as it was “against Sanatan Dharma, against Hindu Dharma”.
He added that Lord Krishna should not be dragged into the controversy as one “shouldn’t drag Prophet Mohammed or Jesus Christ” into any religious controversy.
Sarma, without naming Borah, went on, “Secondly, what is love jihad? When a girl is married by false identity and is forced to change her religion after marriage. Lord Krishna never asked Rukmini to change her religion. If someone files a case, we will have to arrest the person who has said that.”
The grisly triple murder case took place on Monday, and police arrested the accused, 25-year-old Nazibur Rahman Bora, when he killed his wife Sanghamitra Ghosh and her parents Sanjeev and Junu Ghosh, and later surrendered at the police station with his nine-month-old baby.
The Assam CM on Friday visited Sanghamitra’s younger sister Ankita in Golaghat on Friday, and later told reporters that the incident showed “love jihad is a reality”.
He further warned women to “think many times” before marrying someone from another faith.
“I appeal to our young women not to make friendships with men so easily on Facebook and other social media…And the people of one religion before marrying people of another religion should think about it many times. Because we begin with two different ways of life,” he said.