"Love Jihad", the conspiracy theory sweeping India

[The Larch]

So apparently for the last decade or so there has been this "Love Jihad" conspiracy theory going on in hindu radical circles in India, in which hindu girls were being targeted by muslim males for marriage in order to get them to convert to islam.

After different waves of relevance in the last decade, with the recent rise of Modi's BJP (Hindu nationalists) and a few court cases that were brought in the last few years it has now produced a controversial law by an Indian regional government (Uttar Pradesh, India's most populated state) ruled by the BJP (with a few others soon to follow it) that intends to put obstacles to inter-faith marriages.

According to this new law, people converting for marriage now have to give advance notice to public authorities, that will investigate if the conversion is fraudulent. The burden of proof is on those who "facilitated" the conversion to show that it was not obtained through coercion. If this can't be proven, culprits can get up to 10 years in jail. It is up to the authorities to decide if the conversion is valid, as well as the marriage itself. This law has already produced now its first detainee (see news article below) and several ceremonies have been interupted by police.

So much for the "largest democracy in the world".

India Muslim man arrested under 'love jihad' law

Police in India's Uttar Pradesh state have arrested a Muslim man for allegedly trying to convert a Hindu woman to Islam.

He's the first to be arrested under a new anti-conversion law that targets "love jihad" - a term radical Hindu groups use to accuse Muslim men of converting Hindu women by marriage.

The law has prompted outrage, with critics calling it Islamophobic.

At least four other Indian states are drafting laws against "love jihad".

Police in Uttar Pradesh's Bareilly district confirmed the arrest on Twitter on Wednesday.

The woman's father told BBC Hindi that he filed a complaint because the man "put pressure" on his daughter to convert and threatened her if she didn't. The woman was allegedly in a relationship with the man but got married to someone else earlier this year.

Police told BBC Hindi that the woman's family had filed a kidnapping case against the accused a year ago but the case was closed after she was found and denied the charge.

After his arrest on Wednesday, the man was sent to 14 days of judicial custody. He told reporters that he was innocent and had "no link with the woman".

The new law carries a jail term of up to 10 years and offences under it are non-bailable.

What is the 'love jihad' law?

In November, Uttar Pradesh became the first state to pass a law against "forced" or "fraudulent" religious conversions.

But it might not be the last as at least four other states - Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Karnataka and Assam - have said that they are planning to bring in laws against "love jihad". All five states are governed by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), who have been accused of normalising anti-Muslim sentiment.

Critics have called it regressive and offensive, with many concerned that such laws will lead to misuse and harassment since "love jihad" has always been seen as a term used by fringe right-wing radical Hindu groups. It is not a term officially recognised by Indian law.

But it has dominated headlines in the last few months - in October, a popular jewellery brand withdrew an advertisement featuring an inter-faith couple after right-wing backlash accused them of promoting "love jihad".

And then in November, authorities accused Netflix of the same, pointing to a scene in the television series, A Suitable Boy, where a Hindu woman and a Muslim man share a kiss as the camera pans to the backdrop of a Hindu temple. Madhya Pradesh's Home Minister, Narottam Mishra, said it hurt "religious sentiments" and directed officials to look into legal action against the producer and director of the series.

Critics of the BJP say religious polarisation has increased since Prime Minister Narendra Modi first swept into power in 2014. Hindu-Muslim marriages have long attracted censure in India but the attachment of a deeper, sinister motive to them is a recent phenomenon.

[Admiral Yi]

Isn't India deserving of some international pressure/sanctions for the Hindu nationalist shit they're pulling?

[grumbler]

Hindu nationalism has always seemed weird to me because Hindu teachings include the idea that the world as we perceive it is all just an illusion anyway.  Only our atman (and Brahman, the ineffable Ultimate Reality of which our souls are composed) is real.  Thus, a Hindu Nationalist is, in their own terms, acting in accordance with an illusion and ignoring reality.  That's  the way to turn away from release from the illusion.

[Zanza]

Sounds like it is the culmination of two very bad societal trends in India. Hindu nationalism was already named. The other is their ingrained misogyny that has led to a gigantic gender imbalance due to abortions. That's why "others stealing wifes" conspiracy theories fall on fertile ground.

[Syt]

My Indian colleague talked about this the other day. He's really pissed about the direction in which the country is headed.

[The Brain]

Of all the gods in all the faith, they had to worship Stupid.

[Tamas]

Hindu nationalism has always seemed weird to me because Hindu teachings include the idea that the world as we perceive it is all just an illusion anyway.  Only our atman (and Brahman, the ineffable Ultimate Reality of which our souls are composed) is real.  Thus, a Hindu Nationalist is, in their own terms, acting in accordance with an illusion and ignoring reality.  That's  the way to turn away from release from the illusion.

Ignorance and stupidity always find a way.

[The Larch]

Sounds like it is the culmination of two very bad societal trends in India. Hindu nationalism was already named. The other is their ingrained misogyny that has led to a gigantic gender imbalance due to abortions. That's why "others stealing wifes" conspiracy theories fall on fertile ground.

Yeah, it's a toxic mixture of Hindu nationalism/Islamophobia and institutional mysoginy. In the twitter thread where I found this topic they had posted a comic strip that basically summarized "Love Jihad" in two points, hating muslims and thinking of women as property.

The scary thing is that BJP's strangehold on power doesn't show any signs of abating. They rule the country with an overwhelming majority (in last year's elections they increased their parlamentary lead to 302 MPs out of 543), with barely any political oposition (INC, the other traditional big party of India and current opposition leaders, hold only 51 seats). This rise of Hindu nationalism is apparently bringing back to the public view many issues that were in the background for many years, with hostility to inter-faith marriages being one of them, and other issues such as arranged marriages and the caste system that were never fully abandoned. I mean, Modi himself is in a weird arranged marriage that almost nobody knows much about.

Here's another article from the Guardian on the topic after the controversy by the Netflix film mentioned in the previous article:

BBC's A Suitable Boy rankles 'love jihad' conspiracy theorists in India
BJP reaction to depiction of Hindu-Muslim romance follows recent rows over interfaith marriages

When the BBC's adaptation of Vikram's Seth's novel A Suitable Boy recently landed on Indian Netflix it did not take long for the fanfare to turn to controversy.

The series, it was claimed by politicians from the ruling Bharatiya Janata party (BJP), had "hurt religious sentiments" of Hindus by depicting the lead character, a Hindu girl called Lata, passionately kissing a Muslim boy against the backdrop of a temple.

The accusation over the series based on Seth's novel about love and politics in post-partition India was the latest in a debate that has exercised the country in the past few weeks after four states, all with BJP governments, said they would pass laws to make "love jihad" illegal – referring to forced conversion for the purposes of marriage.

This week, two senior officials at Netflix India were booked by police for "objectionable scenes" in A Suitable Boy. Gaurav Tiwari, a BJP youth wing leader, demanded Netflix remove the content and apologise for "encouraging love jihad", and called for a nationwide boycott of the streaming platform. A police investigation is under way.

The "love jihad" conspiracy theory claims that Muslim men are part of a plot to lure Hindu women into marriage to force their conversion to Islam. It was once a fringe notion among the Hindu right, but since the BJP came to power in 2014 it has entered the mainstream, feeding a culture of suspicion around interfaith couples.

At the heart of the debate lies a crucial concern: that there is no substantive evidence that the practice exists in India. In February, the government confirmed that the term "love jihad" was not defined under any existing laws and no cases had been reported to central agencies for investigation.

In Uttar Pradesh, of 14 recent cases investigated by police, eight were found to involve consenting couples and no convictions were made.

Interfaith marriage has remained rare and is often frowned upon in India. However, in the last few years couples in such marriages have spoken of facing unprecedented social, legal and familial persecution. They have reported intimidation and violence from extremist Hindu groups, who can target their homes, send threats over WhatsApp and publish their details on social media.

Asif Iqbal, the co-founder of Dhanak of Humanity, an organisation that assists interfaith couples, said: "Interfaith marriage has always been challenging in India but in recent years it has become very dangerous. Now we see families trying to intimidate their own children out of interfaith marriages by contacting a Hindu fanatic group who will create trouble and use violence."

Not all interfaith marriages involve religious conversion. The right to a secular marriage is enshrined in the 1954 Special Marriage Act but many in India are completely unaware that this law even exists.

In Uttar Pradesh police visit the parents of couples who register for an interfaith secular marriage, and have been reported trying to intimidate them into halting proceedings. District registrars regularly refuse to register interfaith marriages, and under the law 30-day notices of marriages are sent to the parents of couples, as well as posted on public noticeboards and in national newspapers. This can pose an extra dilemma for interfaith couples who do not have consent from their parents.

Akanksha Sharma, 31, a Hindu, spoke of the difficulties and trauma she faced in trying to marry Mohammad Abdul Suaib, 34, a Muslim, in 2015, against the will of their families. After escaping from her family, who had taken her prisoner, the couple had to move cities and jobs in order to find a registrar.

"Many people, including members of my family, were telling me that I was a victim of love jihad and were expecting my husband would force me to become a non-vegetarian or convert me forcibly," said Sharma. "It has been five years and still people call or message me to see if I have been forced to convert and if the jihad has happened. It is a myth, there is no jihad in love."

Critics say the move to target marriages between Hindus and Muslims under the law is part of an attempt to further the BJP's Hindu nationalist agenda.

The Rajasthan chief minister, Ashok Gehlot, from the opposition Congress party, accused the BJP of manufacturing the idea of love jihad to "divide the nation and disturb communal harmony".

TS Singh Deo, another Congress minister, said love jihad was "an exhaustingly bigoted term coined by BJP", adding: "The hatred and intolerance has crept so deeply that they are now brazenly planning laws against consensual interfaith marriages."

The BJP's general secretary, Arun Singh, said: "Love jihad is a serious problem ... many mothers and sisters have suffered its bad consequences. This is a state matter and state governments should enact law against it."

The rightwing firebrand chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, Yogi Adityanath, has sought to portray the issue as a key concern. On Wednesday the state drafted a law outlawing conversion for the purposes of marriage, though it did not refer specifically to love jihad.

The chief ministers of Madhya Pradesh, Haryana and Karnataka have all declared they would follow Adityanath's example. The state of Himachal Pradesh enacted strict laws against forced conversion last year. "This love jihad has been there for some time and it is a social evil," said Basavaraj Bommai, Karnataka's home minister.

However, judges in the Prayagraj high court in Uttar Pradesh this week said the law had no place interfering in marriage choices, and condemned a previous 2014 court ruling that ruled it "unacceptable" to change religion for the purpose of marriage.

"The right to live with a person of his or her choice, irrespective of religion professed by them, is intrinsic to right to life and personal liberty," said Justice Pankaj Naqvi and Justice Vivek Agarwal.

[Razgovory]

I think there are similar beliefs in the US and Europe.  Muslim radicals are marrying ugly western women to get into the US and Europe.

[Sheilbh]

The scary thing is that BJP's strangehold on power doesn't show any signs of abating. They rule the country with an overwhelming majority (in last year's elections they increased their parlamentary lead to 302 MPs out of 543), with barely any political oposition (INC, the other traditional big party of India and current opposition leaders, hold only 51 seats). This rise of Hindu nationalism is apparently bringing back to the public view many issues that were in the background for many years, with hostility to inter-faith marriages being one of them, and other issues such as arranged marriages and the caste system that were never fully abandoned. I mean, Modi himself is in a weird arranged marriage that almost nobody knows much about.

I mean until Modi was PM he wasn't welcome in most Western countries because of his role in the anti-Muslim pogroms in Gujarat while he was premier. It is very alarming.

India is still a democracy and it will hopefully get out of the current BJP Hindu nationalist politics. It's one of the countries I think is, like the US or Israel, could go down an Erdogan style route which I really hope doesn't happen. I don't know enough to comment but I suspect that it would probably help if the Gandhi dynasty stepped back from the INC.

And there have always been complex politics around people trying to convert Hindus - the largest recent anti-Christian violence was in Orissa for a similar reason and movements for dalits/untouchables to convert to Buddhism have had similar allegations (though not the "love jihad" angle). 

And I think in Uttar Pradesh the Chief Minister is a real Hindutva radical - I think he's had issues with the BJP and RSS (!:blink:) being too moderate in the past. Of course we probably said similar things about Modi back when he was just in Gujarat

[Sheilbh]

I think there are similar beliefs in the US and Europe.  Muslim radicals are marrying ugly western women to get into the US and Europe.

There definitely are - although in Europe (and maybe the US) I think the far-right angle is more about "demographic replacement" rather than interfaith marriages plus conversion.

But online (especially Twitter) there's a lot of cross-pollination of European far-right, American Islamophobes and Indian nationalists is strange to see. The main thing the far-right around the world agree on is hostility to Muslims.

[The Larch]

India is still a democracy and it will hopefully get out of the current BJP Hindu nationalist politics. It's one of the countries I think is, like the US or Israel, could go down an Erdogan style route which I really hope doesn't happen.

IIRC in Israel they had a similar controversy to this "Love Jihad" thing, in which they accused young Palestinians about hiding being muslim in order to hook up with jewish girls. An angle of the LJ conspiracy theory is that muslim men would hid being muslim (to the point of using fake names) to their prospective brides until they were about to get married, when they'd then force conversion upon their brides to be, so this "conversion by deceit" angle is not unique to India.

[Tamas]

I think there are similar beliefs in the US and Europe.  Muslim radicals are marrying ugly western women to get into the US and Europe.

There definitely are - although in Europe (and maybe the US) I think the far-right angle is more about "demographic replacement" rather than interfaith marriages plus conversion.

But online (especially Twitter) there's a lot of cross-pollination of European far-right, American Islamophobes and Indian nationalists is strange to see. The main thing the far-right around the world agree on is hostility to Muslims.

I guess that makes a lot of sense as they have become the most suitable/convenient "local enemy" in many countries across the world. Not only they have probably taken over as THE visible local "not us" minority from Jews/whatever other local flavour there was, their numbers have grown in the living/anecdotal memory of a lot of people, and  the radical Islamists do present a sort of (real or imaginary depends on the location I guess) threat that you cannot link to other minorities with that level of convenience.

[Razgovory]

Hindu nationalism has always seemed weird to me because Hindu teachings include the idea that the world as we perceive it is all just an illusion anyway.  Only our atman (and Brahman, the ineffable Ultimate Reality of which our souls are composed) is real.  Thus, a Hindu Nationalist is, in their own terms, acting in accordance with an illusion and ignoring reality.  That's  the way to turn away from release from the illusion.

These are people who had a complicated caste system... People who are low born or born in the wrong caste or born with the wrong race are people who were wicked in a previous life.

[Malthus]

One thing that has to be kept in mind when studying religions is that the believers described by a particular label often vary as much in what they actually believe as those not described by that label.

This is particularly something to be kept in mind when discussing the religions of people who are less familiar - for example, Hindus, Taoists and Buddhists. In the West, there is a tendency to judge these religions but the high intellectual and philosophical traditions that have been popularized by Western thinkers highly influenced by these things - which gives us a perhaps excessively intellectual view of what most actual believers in these religions actually believe.

I went through a bit of disappointment of this sort - I was very interested in Taoist philosophy, only to discover that most actual believers in Taoism are hardly distinguishable from any other believers in Chinese folk religion. Similarly, most actual Buddhist believers you are actually likely to meet in China worship a religion not all that dissimilar to any other, focused on rituals. It has little to do with Buddhist philosophy.