YOGI GOVT ORDERS ANTI-LOVE JIHAD CELLS TO SAFEGUARD STUDENTS IN UP COLLEGES

Sun 14 June 2026:

All state universities and higher educational institutions in BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh have been directed to establish “Dharmantaran Roktham Cells” (anti-conversion Prevention cells) following instructions issued by Governor Anandiben Patel’s secretariat.

According to a May 28 letter addressed to vice chancellors, directors of state universities, medical institutes and other higher educational institutions, campuses have been asked to strengthen counselling services, monitoring mechanisms, student welfare systems and reporting protocols, while also introducing safeguards against alleged religious conversions.

The directive cited concerns that students may be subjected to inducement, psychological pressure or other unethical methods aimed at influencing religious conversion.

The move comes in the wake of investigations over the past two years linked to Lucknow’s King George’s Medical University, where authorities have probed allegations of a “love jihad” network operating on campus.

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“Love jihad” is a conspiracy theory promoted by Hindutva groups claiming that Muslim men enter relationships with Hindu women to convert them to Islam. The Union Home Ministry has previously informed Parliament that Indian law does not define such a term.

Since the Hindutva campaign around the so-called “love jihad” narrative was launched, many Muslim youths have been killed by Hindutva mobs, jailed by the state, and subjected to a flood of hate and harassment online.

Samajwadi Party spokesperson Abbas Haider said that if the governor was genuinely concerned, she should focus on addressing issues within the BJP and RSS rather than creating anti-conversion cells.

He also urged the government to improve the state’s medical education infrastructure.

Samajwadi Party MLA Amitabh Bajpai said the directive reflected the BJP government’s failure to curb religious conversions despite being in power at the Centre for 12 years and in Uttar Pradesh for more than nine years.

He argued that if such measures were still necessary, it amounted to an admission that the government had not succeeded in addressing the issue.

AIMIM spokesperson Mohammed Mubashir questioned the legality of establishing anti-conversion cells in educational institutions.

“UP Governor @GovernorofUp orders ‘anti-conversion cells’ in medical colleges. How do these surveillance units even withstand constitutional law? Why is the judiciary remaining a mute spectator to such blatant executive overreach on campuses?” he wrote on X.

UP Governor @GovernorofUp orders “anti-conversion cells” in medical colleges. How do these surveillance units even withstand constitutional law? Why is the judiciary remaining a mute spectator to such blatant executive overreach on campuses? https://t.co/NLedgquIYF

— Mohammed Mubashir (@Mubashir_AIMIM) June 11, 2026

Congress spokesperson Surendra Rajput also attacked the move, saying the governor’s decision highlighted the alleged inefficiency of the Uttar Pradesh government. He claimed that the need to create such cells after nearly a decade of BJP rule demonstrated a breakdown in governance and law and order.

Journalist Sabah Gurmat also criticised the directive, writing on X that Uttar Pradesh authorities were asking colleges to establish “radicalisation” cells and implement measures to monitor religious conversions.

Calling it a misplaced priority for higher education institutions, she remarked that “even the Nazis perhaps have to take notes here.”

The directive comes against the backdrop of Uttar Pradesh’s stringent anti-conversion law. In July 2024, the state Assembly passed amendments to the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act, allowing any person to file complaints related to alleged unlawful conversions, increasing penalties and imposing stricter bail provisions.

Many argue that the law has frequently been used to target Muslim men through allegations of “love jihad” and unlawful conversion, despite low conviction rates and repeated judicial observations questioning the evidence in several cases.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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