BJP raising contentious issues to divert attention: Digvijaya

Senior Congress leader and former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Digvijaya Singh said the BJP was speaking on contentious issues like religious conversions through marriage to divert people's attention from problems they are facing.

Senior Congress leader and former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Digvijaya Singh said the BJP was speaking on contentious issues like religious conversions through marriage to divert people's attention from problems they are facing. His comments follow Madhya Pradesh minister Narottam Mishra's announcement last week that the state government was proposing a jail term of 10 years for anyone found guilty of using marriage to force someone to change religion.

"There is no problem if laws for 'love jihad' would end unemployment, backwardness and poverty. The BJP government is trying to divert the attention of people from real issues," Singh told reporters in Damoh on Monday. In recent weeks, BJP-run states like Uttar Pradesh and Haryana have revealed plans to enact laws to counter alleged attempts to convert Hindu women to Islam in the guise of marriage, which party leaders often refer to as 'love jihad'.

Singh also hit out at the Centre for the new farm laws which he said were aimed at ending the mandi and MSP mechanisms and handing over the agriculture sector to "multinationals and rich people". He said the Congress would look into its defeat on a majority of the 28 MP Assembly seats that witnessed bypolls on November 3.