"No Garba Without ID Proof," Says Madhya Pradesh Minister. Here's Why.

Just ahead of the Navratri festivities, Usha Thakur, the Minister for Culture in BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh, has issued a warning in view of what she claimed to be rising incidents of "love jihad" in the state, saying that all participants must now carry identity proof in order to enter garba venues. "Garba pandals have become the medium for love jihad. So, now, there will be no entry without identity cards," the minister told reporters in Gwalior.

Garba is a traditional dance performed during the nine-day Hindu festival of Navratri.

"People in general and all allied organisations are aware that garba pandals have become a major medium for love jihad. That is why we want to ensure that no one enters a garba pandal by hiding his identity. This is an advice as well as a warning," Ms Thakur said.

"Love jihad" is a term used by certain radical Hindu groups, suggesting that Muslim men often seek to deceive Hindu women through marriage and convert them to Islam. Under the new anti-conversion law, interfaith couples must give two months' notice to a district official before getting married.

Earlier, in 2014, when Ms Thakur was a legislator, she had stirred a controversy, saying that she wanted to block Muslims from attending garba. She also took the initiative of drafting a letter to all garba organisers in her constituency and asking them to ban Muslim men from participating in the dance ritual and even stop them from interacting with women.

She had reportedly claimed that each year during garba, more than four lakh Hindu girls are converted to Islam, though there are no official statistics to corroborate her claims.