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Guwahati, March 26 (IANS): Union Home Minister Amit Shah said on Friday that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will enact laws against "love jihad" and "land jihad" if the party is voted back to power in Assam.
Addressing an election rally at Kamalpur in Kamrup district, Shah said: "The big issue of the BJP's 'Sankalp Patra' (manifesto for Assam polls) is to make laws against 'land jihad' and 'love jihad'."
Announcing to build a memorial near Guwahati, Shah said the BJP has also promised to strengthen and protect the 'Namghars' (traditional Vaishnavite monasteries of Assam) and grants of up to INR 2.5 lakh will be provided to these traditional institutes.
Introduced by Srimanta Sankardeva, the Namghars, literally meaning prayer house, are places for congregational worship associated with the entire Assamese community and the Ekasarana sect of Hinduism, in particular, which is native to Assam.
"There are so many promises in the Sankalp Patra. These are not mere assurances, as we would accomplish them to make Assam a flood-free state with enough employment opportunities," Shah said.
The BJP government has already made the state agitation free and terrorism free, the Home Minister claimed.
The BJP manifesto focuses on chronic flood management, protection and development of Assamese culture, empowerment of youth and women, correction of Assam's National Register of Citizens (NRC) besides checking illegal immigrants.
Shah on Friday addressed four election rallies at Kamalpur and Jagiroad in central Assam and Patharkandi and Silchar in southern Assam, which will go to the polls in the second phase of Assembly elections on April 1.
Meanwhile, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister and senior BJP leader Shivraj Singh Chouhan also said that the BJP plans to enact a law against "love jihad" in Assam, saying that the party is against ‘jihad' and not ‘love'.
Talking to the media in Guwahati, Chouhan said: "We aren't against love, we're against ‘jihad'. One should not love by betraying, deceiving, changing names or by using unscrupulous ways. The Madhya Pradesh government introduced the Freedom to Religion Bill 2020. The party has decided to pass a similar law in Assam."
The 126-member Assam Assembly will go to the polls in three phases on March 27 (47 seats), April 1 (39 seats) and April 6 (40 seats). The results will be declared on May 2.