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Law min tears into Kerala govt over love jihad

Ravi Shankar Prasad said on Wednesday that if the LDF government doesn't take action against PFI, it would mean it is sacrificing national security at the "altar of vote bank politics"

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Ravi Shankar Prasad
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The BJP sought tangible action by CPM-led LDF government in Kerala against a group called Popular Front of India (PFI) for its alleged role in cases of love jihad. Highlighting a media sting, Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said on Wednesday that if the LDF government doesn't take action against PFI, it would mean it is sacrificing national security at the "altar of vote bank politics". Love jihad is a term used to describe alleged efforts to get non-Muslim girls to convert to Islam through marriage and affairs.

Prasad said, PFI members should be dealt with more severely than Hurriyat leaders, who are being probed by the National Investigation Agency for terror funding in Kashmir. The sting, Prasad said, has caught PFI founding members and claimed that they received funding from abroad and had converted over 5,000 persons to Islam; an Islamic state was their final goal. "You are running a terrorist group with an aim of making an Islamic state. Young sons and daughters are being radicalised. It's a serious threat to national security," he said.

Prasad also referred to an alleged case of love jihad being heard by the Supreme Court, which has ordered an NIA probe into it. He attacked the Kerala government's contention that there should be no investigation in the case.

The BJP, he said, was of the opinion that people can voluntarily convert but there should be no use of inducement, allurement or fear. Due to PFI's activities, life of common citizens of Kerala is under threat, Prasad claimed, urging the state government to take pro-active measures in this regard.

He also asked Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and party vice president Rahul Gandhi to speak on the matter. The BJP has taken up the issue of "jihadi terrorism" in Kerala in a big way to widen its appeal ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. The saffron party has been traditionally weak in Kerala and could not win any seat from the state in the last Lok Sabha elections.

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