Send variable from backbone view to jade template

I have the following template in my index.jade:

....
<script type="text/template" id="sample-template">
  a(href="<%= link.href %>") <%= link.title %>
</script>
....

And I have the below code in my backbone view which sends a variable called link to index.jade.

....
var SampleView = Backbone.View.extend({
  template: _.template($('#sample-template').html()),

  render: function() {
    this.$el.append(this.template({
      link: this.model.toJSON()
    }));
    return this;
  }
});
....

Now when I render that template I get the following output:

<a href="<%= link.href %>"> sample link

You see, I got the correct output for title variable. But the problem is with href. It doesn't print the value of link.href.