love

JALANDHAR: A day after accusing Uttar Pradesh government of encouraging ‘love jihad’, BJP in Jalandhar dug out a three-week-old case of a dalit woman eloping with a Muslim youth from UP’s Saharanpur district and tried to give it a communal spin on Sunday.Local BJP leaders have also threatened to hold demonstrations across the state and gave police five days’ time to trace Mamta, the 20-year-old daughter of Satnam Ram of Jaitewali village in Jalandhar.

Mamta’s parents, along with district BJP (rural) president Arun Sharma and state BJP cultural cell convenor and Yuva Hindu Samiti chief Krishan Lal Sharma, on Sunday met Punjab Scheduled Caste Commission chairman Rajesh Bagha here and alleged that her disappearance was part of a ‘love jihad’ plot.

Jalandhar police have already booked the Muslim boy from Sansarpur village in Saharanpur district and his two brothers for abduction.

The BJP leaders in a press note also called for demonstrations in Punjab against ‘love jihad’, a term for Muslim boys luring Hindu girls into relationships and later conversions and marriage.

After the meeting with the parents and BJP leaders, Bagha, who is a former national general secretary of BJP’s SC cell, talked to the commissioner of police and told TOI that he would take up the issue with Punjab DGP Sumedh Saini.

Arun Sharma claimed that the woman’s marriage was fixed for September 28 with a boy of her choice and the family had made all preparations for it.

According to the complaint with the SC panel, Mamta had left her village on July 28 for Jalandhar, where she was working at a commercial establishment, and did not return home. After inquiries, Mamta’s family members came to know that she was in contact with a Muslim youth, Toyab, from Saharanpur district. The woman’s father alleged that Toyab had abducted his daughter with the help of his brothers Talib and Tafseel. According to the complaint, the youth was working at a saloon in Cheema Nagar in Jalandhar and the owner also was part of the plot.

Police had registered a case against Toyab and his two brothers on August 9. Jalandhar commissioner of police Yurinder Singh Hayer has formed a special investigation team to trace the girl.

UP BJP chief Lakshmikant Bajpai on Saturday claimed that the Akhilesh Yadav government was defending ‘love jihadis’. Actor-turned-politician and party MP from Mathura Hema Malini had also declared that she would raise the ‘love jihad’ issue in the Parliament.

Punjab has around four lakh Muslim population.