Hindu groups play a dangerous game accusing Muslims of waging Love jihad

Title: India love jihad

Reporter: ismillah !eelani
"ate:

I#TR$:

Hindu nationalist groups in India have launched a campaign against what they descri%e as an
Islamist conspiracy against the community&

They say Muslim men disguised as Hindus are getting Hindu women to marry them and then
convert&

They call it 'Love jihad(&

The claim is %eing strongly rejected %y the Indian Muslim community and some womens
groups&

ismillah !eelani in #ew "ehli has the story

T)*T

+,*-. Tara spea/ing

Twenty three-year old Tara +ahdev is a shooting athlete from the )astern Indian state of
0har/hand&

+he met Ranjit singh 1ohli2 a Hindu man from her home state in a shooting range a few months
ago& They dated for some time and decided to get married&

ut %arely a month after the wedding Tara runaway&

+he says she was duped %ecause 1ohli is actually a Muslim named Ra/ee%ul Hasan

Tara 3LI4 . 5 ,)M6L) HI#"I 7 ',rom the very ne8t day of our marriage this man started
forcing me to convert to Islam& 9hen I refused he %egan torturing me& I was denied food and
water and was %eaten up mercilessly every day& He would say if you want to stay alive and live
with honor you will have to accept Islam otherwise you cant even imagine what would happen
to you& He even threatened to sell me off for prostitution&(

Taras hus%and has %een arrested %ut he maintains he was %orn into a Hindu ,amily and is still a
Hindu&

He also denies the charges of %eating and a%using his wife&

+,*-: Manisha spea/ing

:;-year old Manisha from the #orthern state of <ttar 4radesh claims she was also misled&
+he fell in love with her classmate without /nowing that he was a Muslim&

Manisha 3LI4 . 5 ,)M6L) HI#"I 7 'I trusted him completely %ut when I came to /now that
he was a Muslim I refused to marry him& ut he did not leave me2 I did not want to convert %ut
he too/ me to a religious leader he said something to me and when I came %ac/ home my mind
was totally changed and I decided to leave my family and elope with him&(

Manishas family %rought her %ac/ and today she is married to a Hindu man&

Hindu groups say Hundreds of such cases where Muslim men pose as Hindus and woo Hindu
women on false pretences are ta/ing place across the country&

They 3all it 'Love 0ihad( and say it is a Muslim 3onspiracy to 3onvert Hindus to Islam&

=i/as Tiyagi is a leader of the Hindu fundamentalists group ajrang "al&

Tiyagi 3LI4 . 5 M6L) HI#"I 7 ',or love 0ihad the Muslim youth ta/e Hindu names2 they
adopt Hindu religious signs li/e the red string %racelet and the red dot on the forehead and then
they go into Hindu localities and colleges and prey on Hindu girls& The 6ra% countries are
funding this campaign and Madrassas are %eing used as training centers for this&(

+,*- > Hindu activists shouting slogans

+ome Hindu groups including the ruling haratiya 0anata 4artys parent organi?ation Rashtriya
+wayamsewa/ +angh or the R++2 have launched a door- to-door campaign to raise awareness
a%out the issue in small towns and villages&

+,*-@ =illagers ta/ing oath

Here a group of villagers in 9estern <ttar 4radesh is %eing made to ta/e an oath that they will
remain loyal to Hinduism and protect the women of their community at any cost&

Hindu activists then distri%ute hand%ills and pamphlets with a list of "os and "onts and
helpline num%ers for the community to avoidAwhat they say- is falling prey to Love jihad&

The campaign is attracting many ta/ers li/e Housewife 1aushalliya "evi&

"evi 3LI4 . 5 ,)M6L) HI#"I 7 'This is a much needed initiative2 we all have young girls
and it is our duty to protect them&

9hile the ruling-04 is not openly endorsing the campaign some lawma/ers from the party have
thrown their weight %ehind it&

Bogi 6dityanath is a hratiya 0anata 4arty M4 from <ttra 4radesh&

6dityanath 3LI4 . 5 M6L) HI#"I 7 'The campaign needs to %e ta/en up at the national
level& "eceiving Hindu girls in the name of love2 this love 0ihad is not a local 4henomenon its
part of an international conspiracy and 4a/istans I+I has a role in it& It cannot %e tolerated and
whoever indulges in this will have to pay a heavy price&
The term Love 0ihad was first used a few years ago %y Hindu and 3hristian groups2 in southern
states of 1erala and 1arnata/a to descri%e the alleged forced conversions %y Muslims&

ut the police in %oth states said they did not find evidence to prove any such conspiracy&

The <ttar 4radesh 4olice currently pro%ing the charges also hasnt yet come across any
conclusive proof&

Muslim leaders li/e 6srarul HaC say its a hate campaign to tarnish the communitys image&

HaC 3LI4 . 5 M6L) HI#"I 7 'The Hindu nationalist groups have a ha%it of using every
issue for political mileage2 they use religion for politics and now in the name of love jihad they
are using love to further their political agenda and the sole purpose of this e8ercise is to generate
hate against a particular community and vitiate communal atmosphere in the country&

,or many including some womens groups the campaign %y Hindu groups represents their
growing insecurity and an8iety in a situation where Indian women are increasingly asserting
their freedoms and ta/ing their decisions&

3haru !upta is 4rofessor of History at the <niversity of "elhi&

!upta 3LI4 . 5 ,)M6L) )#!LI+H 7 '9hile every cheating2 deception2 violence and
coercion against women has to %e severely condemned2 the pro%lems arises when any /ind of
romance2 love 2 elopement and marriage %etween a Hindu woman and a Muslim male is re-
written %y Hindu organi?ations as forci%le conversion&

!upta has studied the issue for a long time and she sees a clear pattern in Hindu groups
reactions which she says dates %ac/ to nearly a century&

!upta 3LI4 : 5,)M6L) )#!LI+H 7 'I have statistical evidence2 police records2 3I" records
to say that whenever there is an escalation of communal violence Hindu organi?ations have used
womens %ody2 they have used arguments of love marriage2 everyday inter-religious interactions
to fan communal mo%ili?ation and in this campaign the Muslim male is constantly portrayed as
scoundrel2 theres an attempt to %uild a hate psyche and to %uild a Hindu common sense&

6s the campaign in <ttar 4radesh gathers momentum2 the judiciary has intervened in the matter
e8pressing serious concerns over some politicians involvement with the campaign&

<ttar 4radesh is going to polls later this month and the court has as/ed the government and the
)lection commission what they are doing a%out the issue and against the politicians using it to
sto/e communal tensions&

,rom #ew "elhi2 this is ismillah !eelani for 6sia 3alling