The term "Love Jihad" explained

  29-Nov-2020 16:02:11

love Jihad UP Hindus Muslims


The concept of religious discrimination and the caste system has been a scrouge on India’s path of progress. For centuries and still, now, India has been divided based on religion. This problem has been so deep-rooted in the system that still we are fighting against this social menace. To eradicate this, the problem we need to address is interfaith marriages. Interfaith marriage also referred to as a 'mixed marriage' is between spouses professing different religions. Some religions prohibit interfaith marriages, but some allow in limited circumstances. Several major religions do not address this issue and stay quiet, while others allow it with certain customs and rituals to be followed. The proportion of interfaith marriages in India is very low as compared to the total marriages happening. For years interfaith marriages have been considered orthodox, in their toxic mindset people had a conception that marriages could only happen in the same caste, religion, and community. Those who dared to move forward and do as they perceive would meet fate differently, it would result in violent consequences, family boycott, and even honor killings. Even in twenty-first-century honor killings are still prevalent in many parts of northern India, in the states of Haryana, Jammu-Kashmir, and Punjab. Due to this discrimination and stereotypes, the alleged problem of Love Jihad has risen.

Love Jihad also called Romeo Jihad is Islamophobic (fear, hatred, or prejudice against the Islamic religion or Muslims Generally) conspiracy theory alleging the Muslim men target women belonging to non-Muslim communities for conversion to Islam by counterfeiting love. This movement has been described by some people as Antifeminist and Patriarchal towards women's choices in marriage and allegedly using women's rights as a cover for Hindu Nationalism. This concept rose to national importance and gained traction in 2009 with purported conversions in Kerala and Karnataka. The elephant in the room was the Hadiya case of early 2016.

Origin of the word ‘Love Jihad’:- Hadiya (formerly Akhila Ashokan) is a 24-year-old homeopathic medical student from Vaikom, Kerala. A police complaint was lodged by her father in 2016 when she was 20 years old that she had been missing after she left for college from her home. But the circumstances described by Hadiya for leaving were her father forbidding her from practicing Islam, and marrying someone of her choice who was also practicing Islam. The case first went through high court, but the high court dismissed the plea of Hadiya and her marriage was annulled by the High Court of Kerala on the grounds of a report submitted by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to the Supreme Court of India (SC), saying that Hadiya was a victim of indoctrination and psychological kidnapping and that their claims of their marriage being arranged through a matrimony website were "bogus".

Later Shafin Jahan( Hadiya’s husband) moved to the Supreme Court of India. In November 2017 the SC directed Hadiya to resume her internship, and that she was free to meet whomever she wanted. In March 2018, the Supreme court restored Hadiya's marriage, 10 months after the Kerala High Court annulled it.

Political Influence: Nowadays the term Love Jihad has garnered political significance. Many leaders and parties use it unnecessarily to have riots and target innocent people. Recently one such case has garnered a lot of attention because people claimed that the brand showcased “Love Jihad” in their advertisement, The brand is Tanishq (which is a high-end and famous jewelry brand in India, which is a division of Titan Company, a corporation promoted by Tata Group together in collaboration with the Tamil Nadu industrial development corporation.) Their headquarters reside at Karnataka, Bengaluru. The ad released shows a baby shower thrown for a soon mother-to-be by her in-laws. Sentimental, sweet, and cherished, it would have passed unnoticed if it didn't have touched the raw nerve of many Indian's Hindu nationalism. The problem was that the marriage shown was inter-religious. The wife was a Hindu, and the husband was a Muslim. The Hindutva bigots called for a boycott of Tanishq for promoting Love Jihad by showing it on a platform that is well received. But, in reality, the Tanishq ad portrayed nothing fraudulent or even worrisome. It depicted a voluntary union and loving bond between a Muslim man and a Hindu woman that is now being termed as 'Love Jihad' by Hindutva Supporters. Still posting an ad in which the girl is shown having her own identity in her in-laws' house is considered to be demeaning. The family is also celebrating the idea of the girl being a Hindu and having her cultural rituals as well. The ad which was about religious-unity also promoted women empowerment and uplifted the thoughts and identity of women as the girl had her own choice of choosing her soulmate and donning the attire she wants, and following the customs which she wants to follow. On the contrary to these arguments, The internet exploded with massive and violent trolling, which soon spilled over into real life. After this uproar, Tanishq had to withdraw their ad citing reasons as hurt sentiments and well-being of their employees, partners, and store staff. They also said that the idea behind their collection Ekatvam (unity) was to bring about a change in stereotypical mindset and celebrate the togetherness of people from different walks of life but instead the ad stimulated divergent, and severe reactions with the inadvertent stirring of emotions.

The government told the Lok Sabha and the people that there is nothing called Love Jihad in the Indian constitution and everyone is allowed to practice and profess and propagate whichever religion they like and relate to. The term Love Jihad is not defined under any extant laws. However, two cases from Kerala of interfaith marriages have been probed by the NIA(national investigation agency).

An alleged case of Love Jihad in 2020: The recent murder of Nikita Tomar, a 21-year-old final year B.com student has been linked to “love jihad”. The girl was coming out from her college in Faridabad on one afternoon after giving her exams where she was shot dead point-blank by her former classmate Tauseef, who allegedly had a one-sided love affair with Tomar. Tomar’s father has alleged that Tauseef had been harassing her for the past 2 years and pressing her for marriage and for converting her religion to Islam, for all of which she refused. More speculations also state that the accused may have killed her out of revenge. The accused was accompanied by his friend Rehan, both of which have been arrested and put to judicial custody for 2 days until the next court hearing.

History

India has always had problems with interreligious and inter-caste marriages. Indians have persuaded the idea of getting married within a specific social group, caste, or ethnic group and rejecting those from others as unsuitable for marriage or other close personal relationships for thousands of years. However, in the past few decades, religious endogamy has been considered to be wrong and Multicultural marriages are seen as a sign of unity in India.


Written By- Sukriti Sanawar

(The views expressed are the authors own)