New Delhi, May 5: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA from Madhya Pradesh's Agrar constituency, Gopal Parmar, on Saturday stoked a controversy by citing "late marriages" as reason for "love jihad".

Parmar said earlier the youths were married off at younger ages, which made them "mentally safe". If someone is not wedded at "the right age", then incidents of love jihad take place, he said.

Here is what the BJP legislator was quoted as saying by news agency ANI:

By love jihad, the BJP, as well as other right-wing organisations of the nation, refer to a concerted strategy by Muslim men to honeytrap Hindu girls in a bid to convert and marry them.

The most recent allegation of love jihad, which made headlines, was levelled against Kerala youth Shafi Jahan, who was charged of brainwashing and ideologically indoctrinating Hadiya -- a Hindu medical student who converted and married him.

The Supreme Court overturned the Kerala High Court order which annulled their marriage. The National Investigation Agency, however, is probing whether Hadiya was forcibly converted under a mechanism to lure her into extremism. In his statement to the agency, Hadiya's father reportedly said that his daughter had expressed the willingness to travel to Syria and be part of the jihad.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 05, 2018 09:16 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).