As the debate around Love Jihad heats in the country and liberals try to deny its existence in the first place, an incident which can be called the opposite of Love Jihad has enraged the fanatics in Uttar Pradesh. In Aligarh district of Uttar Pradesh, a Muslim man named Qasim married to a girl named Anita 9 years ago. In the last nine years, he has been so impressed with Hinduism that decided to convert and changed his name to Karamveer Singh.
Now the local Muslim fanatics are threatening to kill him, and he has asked for police protection. “My name was Qasim and after I converted people from Muslim community are threatening to kill me and my family. I need police protection,” Karamveer Singh said, as per a report by ANI UP.
Aligarh: Man alleges he is receiving death threats after he converted to Hinduism. He says, "My name was Qasim and after I converted people from Muslim community are threatening to kill me & my family. I need police protection." pic.twitter.com/DaHpLdznlp
— ANI UP/Uttarakhand (@ANINewsUP) December 25, 2020
The district police have registered an FIR In the matter and deployed policemen outside Karamveer Singh (Qasim)’s house. “We have registered a case based on the complaint filed by the man. He has alleged that he is being threatened by some people so we have deployed security at his residence,” said Sandeep Kumar, SP Crime Aligarh, as per the same ANI report.
This shows that while the liberal intelligentsia is not ready to accept the existence of Love Jihad and has been critical of the various state government which brought laws against forced conversion, a large section of the Muslim community is not ready to accept that someone can willingly convert to Hindusim.
The conversion of Hindus to Islam is justified as free will, and the existence of forced conversion of Hindu girls into Islam is denied in the first place, but when something opposite happens, the conservatives and hardliners of the Muslim community threaten to kill the person.
Since the last 1000 years, the conversion of Hindus into Islam is being carried out- sometimes by force and sometimes through Sufi techniques. Today more than one-third of the subcontinent’s (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, and the Maldives) population is of Muslims, thanks to the thousand-year-long process of conversion. But, when some Muslim family in India or a Muslim person like Qasim Khan (Karamveer Singh) wants ‘Ghar Wapsi’, the fanatics of Islam issue death threats and fatwas.
The evangelical religions, Islam and Christianity, have converted millions of Hindus in India, and this exercise is going on for hundreds of years. These evangelical religions used every means, from forceful conversion to luring the poor with money and other resources. Since independence, the priests and mercenaries of these religions have primarily targeted the weaker sections of the society like the Dalits, tribals, and the poor, to bring them to their faith, as the method of forceful conversion is no longer available.
The conversion started with the Mughal invasions when millions of Hindus were converted to Islam with force and later, under the British rule, even the Christians did the same. As many people find Hinduism more compatible with the modern setting when compared to Islam and Christianity, a large number of them now want Ghar-Wapsi.
The protection of those who want to do Ghar-Wapsi (by the state) is crucial because the fanatics can harm these people to instil fear among others who want to do the same. The Yogi government must give full protection to Karamveer Singh and keep fanatics at bay.