The wedding invitation card of a BJP leader’s daughter has gone viral on social media. The bride is the daughter of Yashpal Benam of Uttarakhand’s Pauri area.
The issue is trending online with both supporters and individuals against the move have put the issue for a debate.
The photo of the card has gone viral on social media, with both BJP members and opponents denouncing Benam.
While Hindutva hardliners accused the former MLA and the saffron party of ‘double standards’, others labelled the marriage a case of ‘Love Jihad,’ equating it to the newly released controversial film ‘The Kerala Story’.
The wedding is slated to take place at a resort here on May 28.
People close to the leader, Yashpal Benam, said on condition of anonymity that his daughter studied at Lucknow University and was in a relationship with the man whom she is going to marry.
Benam is the chairman of the Pauri Municipal Corporation. He was earlier with the Congress and won as an independent from Pauri Assembly constituency in 2007.
Political leaders from both the BJP and the Congress have been invited to the wedding.
Several social media users slammed Benam, saying while the BJP talks about “Love jihad”, its leader has failed to stop his daughter from marrying a Muslim man.
“The BJP-ruled states are making films like ‘The Kerala Story’ tax-free while here a BJP leader’s daughter is marrying a Muslim man. These are double standards of the BJP and party workers will get demoralised,” said a user on social networking site Facebook.
“Love jihad” is a term often used by BJP leaders as well as right-wing activists to allege a ploy by Muslim men to lure Hindu women into religious conversion through marriage.
” @BJP4UK How do you feel seeing this? You have crushed the feelings of the entire Uttarakhand because Yashpal Benam is getting his daughter’s marriage done with a Muslim. The day before yesterday he went to see Kerala Story with you. The whole of Uttarakhand is angry,” tweeted another user in Hindi.
The third Twitter user reacted to the viral wedding card.
Love jihad is a political term often used by BJP leaders as well as right-wing members to portray phenomena where Muslim men lure Hindu women intending to convert them through marriage.
(With inputs from PTI)
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