See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/330900765

Love-Jihad: New Face of Violence in India

Article · December 2017

CITATIONS READS
0 1,705

1 author:

Aijaz Ahmad Turrey

Central University of Gujarat
14 PUBLICATIONS   3 CITATIONS   

SEE PROFILE

All content following this page was uploaded by Aijaz Ahmad Turrey on 06 February 2019.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

Mainstream Weekly

Mainstream, VOL LVI No 1 New Delhi December 23, 2017 - Annual Number

Love-Jihad: New Face of Violence in India

Sunday 24 December 2017

by Aijaz Ahmad Turrey and Inamul Haq

Love-Jihad or Romeo-Jihad has become a common term in the Indian context nowadays. It
emerged half-a-decade ago, but it has turned into a threat in contemporary India. Indian society
was plural in custom and tradition in respect of region and religion. However, now the
atmosphere has become one of hatred, communal as well as hostile. The question arises: who
are responsible for it, Hindus/ Muslims or politicians?

History witnessed inter-caste as well as inter-religious marriages in India. From Bollywood to

the cricket field, from politicians to the common man, such marriages happened in India and
no-body raised her/his finger. It is remarkable that a large number of conversions happened
from 2006 in Kerala, Mangalore, UP, even though these were seen as a threat to national
security of India. Love-Jihad is considered an activity by young Muslim men to target young
non-Muslim women for conversion (particularly to Islam). This issue got national attention in
2009, when around three thousand people (mostly women) converted to Islam in Kerala. But,
the case of Akhila (Hadiya) raised a serious alarm to the whole society, because it was taken to
the High Court of Kerala and even involved investigation by the National Investigation Agency
(NIA). In 2016, Prime Minister Narendra Modi also used the term Love-Jihad during his
election campaign in northern Uttar Pradesh by stating that there is nothing that proves that
Love-Jihad exists. It is a threat spread among Muslims to keep them away from Hinduism. After
the BJP’s victory in the UP election, the hatred in the name of Love-Jihad has been raised more
vociferously than before.

First ‘cow vigilantism’ and now ‘Love-Jihad’. These are the two famous licences given to certain
Hindu groups to threaten Muslims. India is a secular-cum-democratic country and the Consti-
tution has granted us various freedoms that are denoted in the Fundamental Rights. Among
them, Articles 25-28 are related to freedom of religion, where you can practice and convert to
any religion and can propagate it. (Article 25) If any Muslim converts to Hinduism, then it is
called ghar wapsi, while if anyone accepts Islam, especially young Hindu girls, then it is labelled
as Love-Jihad. First, Muslims remain the prime suspects of the cow vigilantes as 86 per cent (24
out of 28 persons) deaths are of Muslims only (data released by IndiaSpend) and now Love-
Jihad claiming another life in Rajasthan’s Rajsamand district.
 View publication stats

The first case that appeared in Kerala was simply a love marriage between a Hindu girl (Akhila)
and a Muslim boy (Shafin Jahan), but was presented before the public as an anti-national
activity. The marriage was considered a part of a plan to send the Hindu girl to Syria to join the
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS). The girl was not much seen in
the news as she was kept under house arrest. In an interview, she fearlessly said: “I want to go
with my husband. Nobody forced me to convert.” It evidently indicates that a particular religious
identity (Muslims) has been clearly under attack of the majoritarian forces.

On the other side, Afrazul, who was beaten brutally and then burnt alive in Rajasthan in the
name of Love-Jihad, was a Muslim labourer from West Bengal. Mohammed Afrazul was a
married person and has grandchildren. The killer, a Hindu, fearlessly uploaded the painful video
and even warned other Muslims: “If you spread Love-Jihad in this country, this will be your fate.
Stop Love-Jihad, otherwise get out of this country.” The victim’s family is demanding death
penalty for the accused and claims that there is a conspiracy. They said: “Those who killed him
like an animal and showed his pictures to the world should be hanged.”

There have been several instances of religious violence against Muslims in India since Partition.
The causes of this violence against Muslims are varied. The frequent violent attacks on Muslims
by Hindu mobs such as the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Bajrang Dal and local Gau Rakshak groups
form a pattern of sporadic sectarian violence between the majority Hindu and minority Muslim
communities. Recently the RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) chief Mohan Bhagwat clearly
made an extremely controversial statement against Muslims saying that demographic trends
were disturbing and a cause for concern. The whole story of cow vigilantes and Love-Jihad
revolves around the mentality of certain groups like the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party),VHP
(Vishva Hindu Parishad) and RSS. They have a fear that India will become an “Islamic state”
and will be overrun by Muslims. However, the result would be different. Such kind of violence-
oriented hatred can become a threat to any developing country.

It seems that we are living in chains, with the majority stifling the voice of the minority. If this
continues then the day is not far away when India would experience crass hooliganism and the
fascism that Germany witnessed after 1933 would pravail in this country. The nation that
strangles humanity can do anything beyond imagination.

The authors are Ph.D students, Central University of Gujarat.

ISSN : 0542-1462 / RNI No. : 7064/62