Meerut gangrape aftermath: Hindu groups target old enemy 'Love jihad'

The aftermath of the sensational Meerut gangrape and forced conversion case, has meant that a familiar old enemy, the ‘Love Jihad’, is back as a much discussed topic in Uttar Pradesh. According to a report in Indian Express, wing groups of RSS have begun weeklong campaigns in UP to warn Hindus against ’love jihad.’ ‘Love jihad’ as a term has been popularised by right-wing groups who claim that Muslim men lure Hindu girls to fall in love with them and then are tricked into marriage and forced to accept Islam. The report notes that one such Hindu group, the Dharma Jagran Manch, will “also tie Rakhis to Hindu girls, requesting them not to fell prey to such youths (read Muslim) who lure them to convert their religion.” Rajeshwar Singh, western UP head of the Manch told the paper_, “‘Love jihad’ is an old issue. But, Dharma Jagran Manch has taken up a campaign against it for the first time. We have started the drive today (Sunday) and our workers will tie Rakhis to 10 lakh Hindus across Uttar Pradesh by Krishna Janmashtami on August 17."_ Singh claimed that ’love jihad’ is common in Western Uttar Pradesh. Each worker aims to tie Rakhis to at least 100 Hindus in one week, adds the report. But it may not even take a rakhi campaign to convince Hindus that their girls are potential prey to irresistible Muslim casanovas who are bent on tricking them to convert.  A report in Hindustan Times points out how the narrative that Muslim boys are luring Hindu girls is gaining popularity in Western UP and adding to social tensions. [caption id=“attachment_1654049” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] The Meerut gangrape victim in a television interview to CNN-IBN. Image from IBN-Live[/caption] One local journalist told HT’s Prashant Jha, “I_t is so common. They call themselves Sonu Bhai, Pappu bhai, and they wear red hand bands to appear like Hindus. And then they trap our girls.”_ He also shows “files of a Hindi newspaper of the past few months. Pages 2 and 3, dedicated to local news, were littered with stories about Muslim boys and Hindu girls getting together.” On being questioned if Hindu boys do the same with Muslim girls, the journalist says that’s not the case. But Muslims in the village are disagreeing with this ’love jihad’ theory and are instead blaming the women. Haji Dilshad, a tyre shop owner, alleges that it is the Hindu women who are trapping the Muslim men. He told the paper angrily, “Their women came and were lying on this very cot right after the evening namaaz sometime back. Who is trapping whom?” His son Mohammed Umeed blamed the Hindu boys, saying that in rural areas, they are taking “our women.” What complicates the problem is the regressive attitude towards women. Dilshad in fact adds that, “The entire problem is that the purdah system has ended,” saying that the only job for women is to cook food. However as the report points out the gender fault lines are disappearing with boys and girls getting enough opportunity to interact. “They meet in schools and colleges, they can keep in touch through technology, the line between rural and urban is collapsing, and they are all exposed to a culture — through mass media — where falling in love and experimenting with sexuality is not necessarily a crime,” notes the report. As the Meerut gangrape case has shown , Hindu groups such as Hindu Jagran Manch, Hindu Mahasabha, Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), Bajrang Dal and Durga Vahini, among others have formed the Hindu Bahu-Beti Bachao Sangharsh Samiti and threatened to hold a mahapanchayat if the main accused in the case (Sanaullah) is not arrested. The victim had also alleged that she had seen other girls being held captive in a madarassa, a claim that wasn’t found to be true by the police but one that has already added to the list of rumours circulating in relation to the case. In most case, parents and communities are unable to accept inter-religious relationships and once political parties get added to the equation as in the Meerut case, it means that very often such stories become the perfect recipe for a violent reaction to protect the honour of one community’s women.