Assam govt to bring law soon for life imprisonment in ‘love jihad' cases: Himanta

PTI, Guwahati, Aug 4, 2024 :  Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Sunday said his government will soon introduce a law for life imprisonment in cases of ‘love jihad’.

He also said several measures have been initiated to “protect” the land rights and government jobs for indigenous people.

Speaking at the state BJP’s extended executive meet here, Sarma said, “We spoke about ‘love jihad’ during the elections. Soon, we will bring a law, which will award life imprisonment in such cases.” The term ‘love jihad’ is used by right-wing groups to allege a ploy by Muslim men to lure Hindu women into religious conversion through marriage.

Sarma said a new domicile policy will also be introduced soon, under which only those born in Assam will be eligible for state government jobs.

Asserting that his government has been working to protect the rights of indigenous people, the CM said they have been accorded priority in the “one lakh government jobs” provided as per a pre-poll promise, which will be evident when the complete list is published.

In contrast, people of a “particular community” had got up to 30 per cent of constable jobs in the state police force under the Congress government, when the incumbent Dhubri MP was in charge of the Home Department, Sarma claimed, without elaborating further.

Congress’ Rakibul Hussain had won the Dhubri Lok Sabha seat in this year’s elections.

Sarma said that while “encroached land equal to the size of Chandigarh” has been freed from illegal settlers by his government, land equal to “20 times of the northern Union Territory” is still under the grasp of encroachers in the state.

Among other initiatives to protect land rights are a resolution to bring in a law to forbid sale of land to people of a “particular community” in undivided Goalpara district.

“The undivided Goalpara holds much importance for our Koch-Rajbongshi community. But, people of a particular community took away our land and made us minority in our own place,” he alleged.

Under the proposed new law, land owned by tribals and people belonging to Scheduled Caste and Other Backward Castes will not be allowed to be transferred in undivided Goalpara, he said.

Similarly, a law will be enacted to allow transfer of land in Barpeta, Majuli and Batadrawa, important centres for followers of Vaishnavism, among residents of these areas only, Sarma said.

“If the public wants more areas to be protected in a similar manner, we will do it. We know that we cannot chase away anyone to Bangladesh, but with the last ounce of power in us, we will work to secure the future of Assam,” he asserted.

The CM said the Assam government has also taken a decision regarding the sale of land between Hindus and Muslims.

He said though the government cannot prevent such a transaction, it has made it mandatory to take consent of the chief minister before going ahead.

The state government had issued a similar notification on March 7, stopping sale of land between two different communities for three months to avoid any possible “conflict on communal lines” ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.

Sarma said another legislation will be enacted for creation of “micro tribal belts and blocks” to protect villages or small, scattered settlements of tribals outside the notified belts and blocks.

Referring to the protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, the chief minister claimed that the agitation was one of “deceit as not more than eight people have applied under it” in the state thus far.

Sarma said his government will be taking a “bold step” to clear the biometrics of nine lakh people, collected and “frozen” during updation of the National Register of Citizens (NRC).

He maintained that the BJP has been able to secure a third straight term at the Centre on the basis of its work for the masses, as he took a dig at the Congress for trying to downplay the saffron party’s winning streak.

“Congress has been trying to project as if their 99 seats are bigger than our 240 seats. Perhaps, it is so as per mathematics followed in Bangladesh or Pakistan, but it is not so in India,” he said.

Sarma also asserted that the BJP will return to power in the state in 2026 due to its welfare measures for people.

The CM expressed his gratitude to state party chief Bhabesh Kalita for forming a committee to go through the poll promises that have not been fulfilled yet, so that those can be accomplished within the next one year.

He said the BJP will contest the Bodoland Territorial Council, panchayat and zilla parishad elections on its own, and urged the party workers to work closely with its allies AGP and UPPL for the bypolls to five assembly seats.

Sarma also emphasised that the delimitation of panchayats should be carried out in such a manner that the “rights of the indigenous people are safeguarded”.