On 1 October a Bareilly court awarded life imprisonment to a Muslim man in a case of alleged sexual assault. In the judgment the justice commented that it was a case of "love jihad", which the police have failed to present that way. The girl was a Hindu. During the court proceedings the girl did withdraw the complaint on the ground that she was forced to lodge the complaint under pressure from a Hindutva group. The judge will have none of it; probably the social propaganda was influencing his verdict. Judge Diwakar in his judgment commented sui generis that Muslim men target Hindu women to get married. 

The judgment went on, “In simple words, love jihad is the practice of Muslim men to convert women from non-Muslim communities to Islam by pretending to love them and marrying them. Illegal conversions through love jihad are carried out by some anarchist elements of a particular religion or are made to do so or are involved in a conspiracy… A huge amount of money is required for love jihad. Hence, the fact of foreign funding in love jihad cannot be ruled out…” 

Foreign funding in love jihad is a novel concept; wish the judge had named the country which is sending the money for this.

Creation of 'enemy other'

While propaganda around love jihad was the first one in the jihad series, now of course there are a number of other jihads that have gained currency in the Hindu consciousness - land jihad, UPSC jihad, flood jihad, Corona Jihad among others. There are some communal anchors which specialize in tabulating the types of jihad, if Muslims are in near or remote way to any happening. This is a classic case of trivial issues being magnified to demonize a religious community which is regarded as belonging to a "foreign religion" and is targeted in covert and overt ways to be presented as the ‘enemy other’. This creation of ‘enemy other’ lies at the root of Hindu nationalist politics which is dominating the social scenario in India.

Propaganda about love jihad is not very old. Just a couple of decades earlier some Christian bishops from Kerala started this calumny and it was picked up more intensely by Hindu nationalists. Since their propaganda machinery is well oiled from RSS shakhas to RSS run schools, sections of media, and a parallel social media. The propaganda that there is an organization funding the Muslim youth to lure Hindu girls was investigated and was found to be baseless.

Many things have been attributed as the purpose of "love jihad". The first one is the demographic one. So far the major propaganda is that Muslims have "four wives and twenty children" and they will overtake the Hindu population soon. Conversion of Hindu girls through "love jihad: and producing Muslim children has given it another dimension. Yet another aspect which has been added to it is that these girls are trained to be part of Islamic State.

Misogynist control of women

The core aim of love jihad propaganda has to be linked to the patriarchal values which accompany nationalism in the name of religion. The increase in the incidents of rape runs parallel to the rise of communal politics. Teesta Setalvad points out, “Women of targeted communities are singled out as ‘symbols of honor’ of the communities when the horrors and bestiality of violence are unleashed on them. We saw this during the Partition-related violence, 1946–47; Nellie Assam, 1983; Delhi, 1984; Bombay, 1992–93; Gujarat, 2002; and most recently in Manipur, 2023… the reasons are sociological, historical and ideological. We must always remember that the BJP is ruled by the ideological fountainhead, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the Hindu Mahasabha— extreme rightwing outfits that are based on a deep-rooted vision of not just a militarized faith but of a misogynist control of women and their sexuality.”

One recalls here the reprimand by the Hindu nationalism’s foremost ideologue Vinayak Damodar Savarkar. Commenting on Chhatrapati Shivaji’s noble act of returning the daughter in law of Kalyan governor (a Muslim) brought to him by his plundering army, Savarkar criticizes Shivaji for not taking revenge but returning her with honor.

In the wake of the rising chorus about "love jihad", historian Charu Gupta stated this was a mechanism to control the lives of women, “The fake claim by the Hindu right that there is love jihad organization which is forcing the Hindu women to convert to Islam through false expression of love is similar to campaign in 1920 against alleged abductions; whether 1920 or 2009, Hindu patriarchal notions seem to be deeply entrenched in such campaigns, images of passive victimized Hindu women at the hands of inscrutable Muslim abound and any possibility of women exercising their legitimate right to love and their right of choice is ignored.”

Targeted social campaign

It is in this light that one sees the intense activities of Bajrang Dal on occasions like Raksha Bandhan etc, when they go to Hindu households and tell the parents to keep a ‘watch’ on their daughters. The propaganda on the issue has caught up and is affecting different sections of society. There are many cases where Muslim youths are attacked. The Priyanka Todi and Rizwan Khan story ended in the tragic death of Rizwan Khan. Even the reverse of this targeted social campaign is seen to be manifested in times when Ankit Bhandari, a HIndu youth, was beaten to death by the relatives of the Muslim girl he was in love with.

The case of Hadiya, previously Akhila Arunan, converted to Islam is very revealing. She converted to Islam due to interaction with Muslim friends. Later she married Shafik Jahan. Her father was given her custody by the court on the ground that she has been indoctrinated and will be recruited for ISIS work. She went up to the Supreme Court where her testimony was heard and she was reunited with  her Muslim husband.

In Kerala many a "yoga centre" has come up solely with the purpose of convincing the Hindu girls intending to marry a Muslim to bring her back to the Hindu fold and abandon her love for the Muslim man. Many girls have complained of coercion and blackmail being used to change their mind. 

The Bareilly judgment shows how this propaganda has influenced Indian society, including judges who are supposed to base their verdict on concrete evidence.

(The writer, a former IIT Bombay professor, is Chairman, Centre for Study of Society and Secularism, Mumbai. Views expressed are the author's own.)