BJP’s Lok Sabha member from Haryana Dharambir Singh described live-in relationships as a “dangerous disease” , a western concept destroying India’s culture and sought a law against it.
He also said divorce rates in love marriages were high and that consent of the parents of both the bride and groom should be made mandatory for such alliances.
During Zero Hour, the MP from Bhiwani-Mahendragarh, said, “Such (live-in) relationships are very common in western nations, but this evil is fast spreading in our society as well and the consequences are horrible.”
“Indian culture is known for its philosophy of ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’.
Our social fabric is different from others in the world. The whole world is impressed by our unity in diversity… Not only is this (live-in relationships) ruining our culture but also spreading hatred and evils in the society. If this continues, our culture will die and there will be no difference between us and others,” he said.
He cited the case of Shraddha Walkar, who was killed by her live-in partner Aftab Poonawala in Delhi.
The MP said India had a long tradition of ‘arranged’ marriages and a large section of society even to this day gives priority to marriages arranged by parents or relatives.
“Marriage is considered a sacred relationship that continues for seven generations… Divorce rate is about 1.1% in India as compared with America which has a rate of about 40%. It has been observed that the rate of divorce in arranged marriages is very less. However, there is a lot of increase in divorce rate recently and the main reason for it is love marriages,” Singh said.
The MP said, “It is my suggestion that the consent of mother and father of the bride and groom be made mandatory in love marriages because in large parts of the country marriage does not happen in the same ‘gotra’ and due to love marriages there are a lot of conflicts in the villages. Scores of families are destroyed in these conflicts.”
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