The BJP’s next mission: eradicating ‘love jihad’ in India
A few weeks ago, when 22-year-old Muskan and her Muslim husband Rashid went to register their marriage in the town of Moradabad, he ended up in jail and the young woman in a state-run shelter home.
Three months pregnant, she suffered a miscarriage.
“They knew I was pregnant. They still made me work, clean the room, putting strain on my belly,” said Muskan, who went by Pinky when she was a Hindu.
“I knew I was losing my child.”
The couple’s “crime” was the alleged violation of an “unlawful conversion” ordinance promulgated last month in Uttar Pradesh by the local Bharatiya Janata Party government. It carries a punishment of up to 10 years in jail.
It sent a further chill through India’s 200-million-strong Muslim population and defenders of the country’s secular traditions, who have raised alarm about the BJP’s policies since it returned to power in 2014.
– ‘Laughable but dangerous’ –
The BJP government in U.P., led by Yogi Adityanath has vowed to stamp out “love jihad” with the new law.
Falling foul of the vaguely worded legislation is not hard. Dozens of Muslim men have been arrested — for which police need no warrant — in just a few weeks.
Any relative of the bride can complain to the police, the men can be arrested on the slightest suspicion, and women are asked into making incriminating statements, activists say.
This week, an 18-year-old Muslim was jailed after going out for pizza with a Hindu girl because her father complained to police, according to media reports.
He was booked for “inducing” the girl to elope with the intention to marry and forcefully change her religion — charges both teenagers deny.
Muslim boys do sometimes pretend to be Hindus, and there have been instances of kidnapping women — on both sides.
But many Hindu activists think the men are not acting alone but are part of a master plan, probably financed by India’s Muslim-majority neighbour Pakistan.
Believing “love jihad” is real “would be a laughable idea if it wasn’t so dangerous,” said activist Harsh Mander.
“What we’re witnessing… is the complete demolition of everything that the constitution promised.”
– Valentine’s Day vigilantes –
Other states governed by the BJP want to enact legislation similar to that in Uttar Pradesh.
Egging on the government and the police are groups like the Bajrang Dal, which is thought to have more than five million youth members nationwide.
It has been repeatedly accused of violence, and is also known for hassling couples on Valentine’s Day, and intimidating Muslims and low-caste Hindus accused of slaughtering cows — which are sacred in Hinduism.
“Love jihad is a reality, it is a well-thought-out strategy deployed by Muslim boys to lure Hindu girls,” Ramji Tiwari, the Bajrang Dal chief in the city of Kanpur, told AFP.
Muslims, he claimed, are “hellbent” on one day outnumbering Hindus — currently they outnumber Muslims by almost six to one — in India by “trapping and brainwashing our girls.”
Bajrang Dal now conducts “awareness campaigns”, going door-to-door telling “our mothers and sisters that they should be wary of these smooth-talking men.”
– ‘Unholy trinity’ –
The BJP’s new mission against “love jihad” is also a blow against the right of women to choose whom they marry, activists say.
Muskan, meanwhile, is back with her in-laws, still suffering medical complications. She intends to stay with Rashid.
He and his brother spent two weeks behind bars before police released them as Muskan resisted pressure to incriminate him.
“I trust and love Muskan. I knew she wouldn’t make a statement against our love,” he told AFP.
“I only got to know about our baby when I got out.”
Disclaimer: Validity of the above story is for 7 Days from original date of publishing. Source: AFP.
