Dispur: Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Sunday said his government would introduce a law for handing out life imprisonment in the cases of ‘love jihad’.
Biswa Sarma told a BJP state executive meeting that during election the party had spoken about love jihad and ‘we will bring a new law that will introduce life imprisonment as a penalty for love jihad cases.’
Hindutva groups bandy about the conspiracy theory of ‘Love jihad’, alleging that Hindu women are forcibly converted to Islam through marriage.
In what could be called a more egregious divisive policy, Sarma reportedly said the government’s permission will be made mandatory for the sale of land between Hindus and Muslims.
The Indian Express reported: “Hindus’ lands were bought by Muslims, Muslims’ lands were bought by Hindus. The government cannot prevent such transactions but it has decided that for the land of a Hindu to be bought by a Muslim and vice-versa, there can be land sale permission only after the chief minister’s consent is taken.”
Sarma claimed that these decisions were meant to “protecting the rights of indigenous people” alongside fulfilling promises made before the 2021 elections.
He also made it clear that restrictions would be placed on the sale of land to ‘particular community’ in Assam’s Goalpara region, where the Koch Rajbongshi community lives.
“Undivided Goalpara was an integral part of Assam, of great importance to the Koch Rajbongshi community,” he was quoted as saying, adding that “But people from a particular community kept snatching land from our indigenous people there and today we are in the minority in our own land.”
He said that government will bring in a law in the erstwhile Undivided Goalpara district so that no land “can be sold to people of special communities”.