In its election manifesto for Uttarakhand, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday announced that if the party came to power those found guilty of “love jihad” will be jailed for 10 years.
“Love jihad” is a conspiracy theory espoused by Hindutva activists, claiming that Muslim men lure Hindu women to marry them in order to later convert them to Islam.
On Tuesday, the saffron party had made a similar promise while launching its manifesto for Uttar Pradesh.
Uttarakhand is one of the many BJP-ruled states that have enacted anti-conversion laws. It states that “forced or fraudulent conversions done through force or allurement” are non-bailable offences and can lead to imprisonment of up to five years.
In the manifesto released by Union minister Nitin Gadkari, the BJP also promised to provide 50,000 government jobs to the youth and three free liquefied petroleum gas cylinders to the underprivileged residents of the state, according to ANI.
The party also said that the pension given to senior citizens will be increased to Rs 3,600.
Gadkari also said that the government will finish the ongoing Char Dham highway project by December.
The project, worth Rs 12,000 crore, seeks to improve road connectivity to four Hindu pilgrimage sites, Gangotri and Yamunotri, near the source of the rivers, and the temple towns of Badrinath and Kedarnath in the state.
Uttarakhand will go to polls on February 14. The results will be announced on March 10.
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