Kareena Kapoor on magazine cover: Why is Durga Vahini acting like alleged 'love jihadists'?

Kareena Kapoor, a successful actor who continues to sign big budget Bollywood projects after marriage, might have no reason to think so, but the Durga Vahini insists that she is a victim of ’love jihad’. Given that most Indians don’t endorse the insanity that’s offered as the rationale behind the ‘ghar wapsi’ programme, VHP’s women’s wing decided to make their message visual and give it some star power. So the look-book of Khoon Bhari Maang was duly Googled and the designers working on the cover of the Vahini’s magazine came up with the most ridiculous image idea ever. They decided to put Kareena’s face on the cover. Then they made a visual translation of what ‘Khoon Bhari Maang’ could mean and slathered the actor’s middle parting with a lot of sindoor. But that was just one half of her face, the other half was painted over to resemble a face covered with a burqa - a burqa that resembles a gladiator’s helmet though. Now, ‘Hindu’ Kareena is smiling back at your from the cover while poor, wife of a Muslim man Kareena can’t show off her lovely coral lip colour. The Durga Vahini faction which came up with the idea must have thought, “If that doesn’t scare the daylights out of Hindu women and convince them that ’love jihad’ is more real than the tooth fairy, nothing else will. After all, nothing says tyrannical repression as well as lipstick that cannot be shown off.” [caption id=“attachment_2036531” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Kareena on the cover.[/caption] Rajni Thukral, the coordinator of the North India section, even waxed eloquent about how ’love jihad’ was a ‘serious issue’ in the Himachal. And why did she put Kareena on the cover? “She is a celebrity. The youth try to emulate celebrities. They think if she can do so, why not us?”  _Hindustan Time_s reports Thukral as saying. We have noted on Firstpost, that the notion of love jihad is a shamefully misogynistic one where the woman’s agency is completely overlooked and it is suggested that they are foolish to fall for any glib talk and convert to another religion. Mostly, the ’love jihad’ propagandists argue that women are converted to Islam against their will and men coerce them under the garb of love. Now, the twisted logic might hold no relevance in a sane world, but the anti-’love jihad’ protesters can claim they are arguing against forcing one’s beliefs on some hapless person and duping them. It’s another thing that they mistakenly assert that Muslim men all over India are perpetrating such crimes on Hindu women. Ironically though, the Durga Vahini is guilty of doing exactly what they are up in arms against. Kareena Kapoor, like most sane people, has emphatically asserted that she doesn’t believe in the existence of ’love jihad’ and she believes only in love. There’s no evidence that her husband Saif Ali Khan has coerced her to embrace his faith. In fact, he had taken great pains to explain in an Indian Express editorial that inter-marriage represents the vibrant, accommodating cosmopolitan nature of the Indian society. However, the Durga Vahini discredits Kapoor’s intelligence and freedom of choice forcefully and seeks to speak on her behalf, using her as the poster girl for their love jihad conspiracies as if her life with Saif Ali Khan is the nightmare existence of their hypothetical “love jihad victims”. For a couple, who has never commented on or criticised the politics of VHP or Durga Vahini in public, the latter had no reason to aim this diatribe at them, but they did. Basically, the Vahini did what they accuse the so-called love-jihadis of doing - forced their opinion on an unwilling party. What is more terrifying perhaps is how they have decided to use their flawed understanding of Kareena Kapoor’s life to brainwash others. In fact NDTV reports that Prakash Sharma of VHP, has shown no regret at the Durga Vahini’s step. He has told ANI, “If actress Kareena Kapoor has a problem with this, the doors of Court are always open for her."  That sounds like you have a trespasser in your house and instead of trying to flee when he/she is caught, you’re instead told to meet the person in court. That’s legitimate!