Row after Maharashtra sets up panel to track interfaith, inter-caste marriages

• The panel is supposed to gather information about couples in such marriages, and maternal families of the women involved if they are estranged.
• The government has formed a 13-member committee, which will be headed by women and child development minister  Mangal Prabhat Lodha
• ‘What’s this rubbish of a committee to check inter caste/religion marriages? Who is the government to spy on who marries whom?’

A fresh political row erupted in Maharashtra after the government set up a panel, named “Inter-caste/Interfaith marriage-family coordination committee (state level)”, ostensibly to check allurement or criminality involved in inter-caste or inter-faith marriages.

According to a government resolution issued on Tuesday, the panel is supposed to gather information about couples in such marriages, and maternal families of the women involved if they are estranged.

The committee will also oversee district-level initiatives for women in such marriages who may be estranged from their maternal families so that assistance can be provided, if needed, the resolution stated, according to the Indian Express.

The government has formed a 13-member committee, which will be headed by the state’s women and child development minister and Bharatiya Janata Party leader, Mangal Prabhat Lodha. Notably, Lodha, last year, had alleged that Hindus face a threat in the Muslim-dominated in some areas in Mumbai.

Lodha is infamous for his comment that “there should be capital punishment for killers of cows and cattle. Cow slaughter should be punishable by death and beef export should be banned.” He was also served a notice by the Election Commission during the 2019 assembly polls for making a communal statement.

BJP spokesperson and MLA Ram Kadam said that it was an effort to ensure that ‘Shraddha Walkar type incidents’ do not happen again

“It’s a welcome move by the Maharashtra government to set up a state level committee to study data of Inter-religion and Inter-caste marriages. It is a proactive step taken by the government in the right direction,” Balasahebanchi Shiv Sena (BSS) spokesperson Krishna Hegde said.

However, Eknath Shinde-Devendra Fadnavis government came under severe criticism from the Maha Vikas Aghadi which slammed the move calling it “regressive”.

Senior NCP leader and former minister Dr Jitendra Awhad said: “What’s this rubbish of a committee to check inter caste/religion marriages? Who is the government to spy on who marries whom? In liberal Maharashtra this is a retrograde, nauseating step. Which way is progressive Maharashtra heading towards? Stay away from people’s private lives.”