Love Jihad is now a mainstream term. And there needs to be open discussion about it

Himanta Biswa Sarma, the rising star of Indian politics and Finance Minister of Assam, mainstreamed the term ‘Love Jihad’ and spoke on the subject while addressing BJP Mahila Morcha in the state.

“Love jihad is promoted by social media. Assamese girls are becoming victims of love jihad,” Sarma said on Wednesday, addressing a meeting of the BJP’s Mahila Morcha at Dibrugarh. “Our culture is facing cultural aggression. After falling prey to love jihad, girls have to face talaq. If any Assamese girl is trolled, harassed or becomes a victim of love jihad on social media by people of hidden identity, we will put them in prison.”

Sarma said that BJP will fight against “Love Jihad” because it is becoming a serious cultural issue for the Hindus of Assam.“Muslim boys put up fake accounts on social media posing as Hindus. This might be vice versa, I don’t know. Then when the girl marries, after a few days she discovers that the boy is not from the same religion to which she belongs. I don’t consider this a bona fide marriage, this is a marriage based on breach of trust.”

The Muslims clerics encourage the Muslim boys for ‘Love Jihad’ especially when they are in majority in a particular area or a favourable government is in power in the state. Like religious conversion by Christain missionaries increases manifolds when Jharkhand JMM is in power in the state, the cases of ‘Love Jihad’ also pick up when a ‘secular’ government is in power.

National Commission for Women (NCW) chief Rekha Sharma met Maharashtra governor Bhagat Singh Koshiyari and discussed “rise in the cases of Love Jihad” in the state. “Our Chairperson @sharmarekha met with Bhagat Singh Koshyari, His Excellency, Governor of Maharashtra and discussed issues related to #womensafety in the state including defunct One Stop Centres, molestation and rape of women patients at #COVID centres and rise in love jihad cases,” the NCW tweeted.

From Assam to Kerala, the cases of Love Jihad are very common, and not only with Hindu girls, but with Christians too. In September last year, a 19-year-old Christian girl in Kerala was allegedly forced to convert to Islam after being blackmailed and facing sexual abuse. The high profile Love Jihad case of Akhila, a 26-years old homoeopathy doctor, who converted to Islam and married a Muslim man Shefin Jahan (the High Court later annulled the marriage ), who was a member of Social Democratic Party, the political wing of PFI, (Popular Front of India) an extremist organization notorious for its anti-India activities also made headlines in 2018 as to how deep-rooted the evil of Love Jihad is in Kerala.

Hadia is just one example. The way Love Jihad has gripped Kerala can be explained by a special report compiled by Times Now a couple of years ago. A reporter of Times Now had visited the notorious district of Kasargod in this respect, which had become an ISIS hub, thanks to the 10 years of Congress – CPI(M) rule. According to the report, the Muslim boys of this region are openly offered to convert any Hindu, Sikh or Christian girl by deceit and be rewarded with a fixed monetary prize. This is the most for Sikh girls and the least for Buddhist girls.

According to the investigations done by the channel, Love Jihad has now developed into a fully-fledged industry in Kerala. For this, many Muslim boys even change their names. Once a girl falls into their trap, she has no option of turning back. According to the same report, in Kerala alone, more than 6000 people have been converted to Islam, of which half are women, and of whom 76% are in the age category of below 35.

This is not all, according to this report a rate card for the conversion was circulated in Kerala. The accused would also be assisted by all means through special helpline numbers. If a Muslim boy from Kerala manages to lure a non-Muslim girl from another state, he would be rewarded likewise. The rate list, as accessed by Times Now, looks somewhat like this –

Sikh / Punjabi Girl – 7 lakh rupees

Punjabi Hindu Girl – 6 lakh rupees

Gujarati Brahmin Girl – 6 lakh rupees

Gujarati [Kachch] Girl – 5 lakh rupees

Hindu Brahmin Girl – 5 lakh rupees

Hindu Kshatriya Girl – 4.5 lakh rupees

Hindu Dalit / OBC Girl – 2 lakh rupees

Christian [Roman Catholic] Girl – 4 lakh rupees

Christian [Protestant] Girl – 3 lakh rupees

Jain Girl – 3 lakh rupees

Buddhist Girl – 1.5 lakh rupees

Despite such open advertisements of Love Jihad, no one in the mainstream was talking about the issue in order to be politically correct. Himanta Biswa Sarma is the first big mainstream leader to talk about this and now NCW is also taking due cognizance. For the welfare of the non-Muslims in the country, an open debate about ‘Love Jihad’ is necessary.