Mumbai: The claims made by the Women and Child Development Minister of Maharashtra and BJP leader, Mangal Prabhat Lodha, during the ongoing Budget Session, stating that there were over one lakh 'love jihad' cases in the state, caused a heated exchange between the ruling and opposition parties in the Legislative Assembly on Friday.
When NCP MLA Jitendra Awhad objected to Lodha’s statement by pointing out the 3000 registered cases of interfaith marriages in the state, BJP MLAs, including Ashish Shelar and Yogesh Sagar, and Shiv Sena MLA and minister Gulab Rao Patil criticized him, accusing him of making biased statements to appease a particular community.
Awhad also stated that such factually incorrect statements can create communal tensions. However, those who opposed Awhad alleged that since he is from a constituency where the Muslim population is sizable, he could only make such biased statements to protect his vote bank.
Samajwadi Party's Abu Asim Azmi demanded that Lodha apologize for his comment, but Shelar countered by saying that there should be a law to prevent instances of 'love jihad', and even a single case was serious.
Normal proceedings resumed after the Leader of Opposition, Ajit Pawar, sought the intervention of Assembly Speaker Rahul Narverkar, who expunged the objectionable remarks from the arguments.