Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has said if required, the existing state law against "love jihad" would be made stronger in order to curb incidents of men marrying tribal women with the motive of grabbing their land.
Chouhan stated this on Sunday referring to the Madhya Pradesh Freedom of Religion Act, 2021, which prohibits conversion from one religion to another by use of misrepresentation, force, undue influence, coercion, any other fraudulent means, allurement, or promise of marriage.
He was addressing a gathering of tribal people here on the death anniversary of tribal freedom fighter Tantya Bhil.
"If needed, the law regarding 'love jihad' will be made stronger so that none of the culprits go unpunished. It has been seen that some people marry tribal girls and their aim is to grab their property. The religious freedom act will be made stronger to check incidents of men marrying tribal women for grabbing the latter's family land. It will stop love jihad aimed at grabbing their land," he said.
'Love jihad' is a term used by right-wing Hindu groups that claim there is a "conspiracy" to lure Hindu girls into marriage and convert them to Islam.
"I'm the master trainer of Panchayats Extension to Scheduled Areas (PESA) Act. I am disseminating information about it in detail. This act will stop all such activities that are against the interests of the tribal community as many rights and powers have been given to the respective gram sabhas," he said.
"The government has realised that just because the panchayats don't have the access and control over revenue records, many influential people buy land in their areas in the names of their servants without their knowledge. To check this, their land documents will have to be kept in the gram sabha," the chief minister said.
He said the government was working on the plan for employment to tribals in such a way that migration of people from the community will stop within five years.
Earlier, addressing a function at Patalpani in Mhow in Indore district, the chief minister announced the construction of a museum and a library, where artefacts and books linked to freedom fighter Tantya Bhil and other such personalities from the community will be kept.
"A Detailed Project Report (DPR) of these two projects has been made and both the works will start very soon," he said.
He announced that Patalpani railway station will be renamed as Tantya Mama Station.
Madhya Pradesh Governor Mangubhai Patel, state BJP president V D Sharma along with Mhow MLA and minister Usha Thakur paid floral tributes at the statue of Tatya Bhil there.
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