Love Jihad

Documenting hate and communal violence under the Modi regime

March 20, 2015 by Nasheman

by John Dayal

The rape of a 70 year old Nun in West Bengal in an attack on a convent and school in February 2015 sent shock waves throughout India, and the world. “Protect not just Cows, but human beings also,” said Cardinal Baselios Cleemis, President of the Catholic Bishops Conference. At least 43 deaths in over 600 cases of violence, 149 targeting Christians and the rest Muslims, have taken place in 2014 in India till March this year, marking 300 days of the National Development Alliance government of Mr. Narendra Modi. The number of dead is other than the 108 killed in Assam in attacks by armed tribal political groups on Muslims. Desecration and destruction of churches, assault on pastors, illegal police detention of church workers, and denial of Constitutional rights of Freedom of Faith aggravate the coercion and terror unleashed in campaigns of Ghar Wapsi and cries of Love Jihad. Since May 2014, there has been a marked shift in public discourse. There has been a relentless foregrounding of communal identities, a ceaseless attempt to create a divide between ‘us’ and ‘them’. The BJP leaders guaranteed to abuse, ridicule and threaten minorities. Hate statements by Union and state ministers, threats by Members of Parliament, state politicians, and cadres in saffron caps or Khaki shorts resonate through the landscape. But most cases go unreported, unrecorded by police.

The Prime Minister refuses to reprimand his Cabinet colleagues, restrain the members of his party members or silence the Sangh Parivar which claims to have propelled him to power in New Delhi. Mr. Modi calls for a ten-year moratorium on communal and caste violence. His government soon declares Christmas to be a “Good Governance Day” in honour of the BJP leader and former Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee. There are fears at a severe whittling down of the 15 Point Programme for Minorities, a lifeline for many severely economic backward communities, and specially their youth seeking higher education and professional training. Anyway, Mr. Modi’s “assurance” to religious minorities is challenged and countered by Mr. Mohan Bhagwat, the head of the powerful Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh, who asserts, repeatedly, that every Indian is a Hindu, and minorities will have to learn their place in
the country.Speaking at the 50th Anniversary of foundation of its religious wing, Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Mr. Mohan Bhagwat, the RSS Sarsanghchalak bluntly stated that “Hindutva is the identity of India and it has the capacity to swallow other identities. We just need to restore those capacities.” In Cuttack, he asserted that India is a Hindu state and “citizens of Hindustan should be known as Hindus”. Sadhvi Prachi, a central minister, Members of Parliament Sakshi Maharaj and Adityanath are among those urging measures to check Muslims, including encouraging Hindu women to have from four to ten children each. In Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and other states, the terror, physical violence and social ostracizing of Dalit and Tribal Christians, in particular, continues.

The 300 days have also seen an assault on democratic structures, the education and knowledge system, Human Rights organizations and Rights Defenders and coercive action using the Intelligence Bureau and the systems if the Foreign Contributions Regulation Act and the Passport laws to crack down on NGOs working in areas of empowerment of the marginalized sections of society, including Dalits, Tribals, Fishermen and women, and issues of environment, climate, forests, land and water rights. This report is focused on issues of communally targeted violence and the politics of hate and divisiveness that emanates from a thesis of religious nationalism.

300 DAYS Documenting Hate and Communal Violence under the Modi Regime
(With inputs from Kiren Shaheen, Liris Thomas, Mansi Sharma, Shabnam Hashmi, Shahnaz Husain, Tehmina Arora, and Vijayesh Lal)

VHP leader Sadhvi Prachi stokes fresh controversy with communal rants

February 2, 2015 by Nasheman

Badaun: VHP leader Sadhvi Prachi has stoked fresh controversy by making inflammatory remarks on the issue of ‘love jihad’ and defending her statement that Hindu women should have four children.

“They are trapping our daughters through ‘love jihad’. These people who give birth to 35-40…. Are spreading love jihad….. They are trying to make Hindustan into Darul Islam.

“When I made the remarks, it was as if the country was hit by a quake. The media said you have sparked an uproar with your remarks on four children. I said I have only advocated four children for Hindus not 40…. And it is important because the country needs it,” the saffron clad leader said at a function organised here by Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) which “felicitated” Hindus who have more than four children.

Prachi had contested the 2012 Assembly elections on BJP ticket from Purkazi constituency in UP. She was among persons accused of inciting riots through their provocative speeches in Muzaffarnagar in 2013 and was later granted bail.

The latest hate speech came despite Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s warning to party leaders to restrain from making controversial comments which can overshadow his government’s agenda of development and economic reforms.

The BJP was quick to distance itself from Prachi’s remarks, saying the party does not agree with such views and is not interested in discussing any such issue.

“The BJP does not agree with any such comment. We do not think that the comments are correct. BJP does not want to discuss any issue other than good governance and even the people are not ready to accept any such discussion.

“Under such circumstances, there is no significance of such remarks,” said chief of BJP’s Uttar Pradesh unit Laxmikant Bajpai.

He asserted that the leader was not speaking at a party platform.

Prachi felicitated 20 persons, who had more than four children at the ‘Virat Hindu Sammelan’ organised by VHP here yesterday. Those “honoured” included Dwarika Singh, who have 11 children, Rampal Singh and Surnam Singh, who have nine children each.

Addressing the gathering on the occasion, Sadhvi Prachi said, “Why family planning is implemented for Hindus only.”

On “Ghar Wapasi”, she said that if 1,400 years ago everyone was Hindu, “UP Urban Development Minister Azam Khan, Jama Masjid’s Imam Bukhari, former Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf and Yusuf Raza Gilani should also do ghar wapasi”, a term used for reconverting into Hinduism.

Prachi said that she was not against love but against “Love Jihad”.

“A campaign is being run to trap Hindu girls in the name of love,” she said.

The sadhvi had drawn criticism last month over her remarks that Hindu women should have four kids.

“Earlier we used to say ‘hum do hamare do’. But now we have started saying that ‘sher ka bachcha ek hi achha’ (for a lion, one offspring is enough). This is wrong,” Prachi had said at a gathering in Bhilwara.

“If there is one child, where all will you send him? To protect the border… Or make him a scientist or he will take care of business…. So, we need four children. One can go to protect the borders, one can serve the society, give one to the saints and one to VHP to serve the nation and protect the culture. This is very important,” she had said.

Demanding a law to ban forced conversions, Prachi had supported the VHP’s ‘Ghar Wapsi’ or reconversion programme.

“If a son is angry due to the some reason and leaves the house, should he not be allowed to return. Should the family not accept him?

“That’s why ‘Ghar Wapsi’ should be supported,” she said.

Earlier, BJP MP Sakshi Maharaj drew criticism when he asked Hindu women to have at least four children, with the opposition accusing BJP of trying to polarise the atmosphere.

BJP on its part had distanced itself from the remarks of Maharaj, who was also served a show cause notice, and urged its workers and public representatives to refrain from making such comments.

(PTI)

Hindu Mahasabha's latest diktat: Bollywood’s Khans should convert to Hinduism

January 24, 2015 by Nasheman

Meerut: Since last year, there have been a series of controversies pertaining to attempts by hard-core Hindu outfits, which were involved in reconversion campaigns. Now, in order to glam up the issue, a Hindu outfit has targeted Bollywood Khans, who are married to Hindu women.

The Hindu Mahasabha has dared Shah Rukh Khan, Amir Khan and Saif Ali Khan to convert to Hinduism to prove their love for their wives.

The Hindu Mahasabha, in an editorial in its weekly publication Hindu Sabha Varta, has challenged Shahrukh, Amir and Saif to convert to Hinduism if they really love their wives, according to The Hindu.

The report added that the editor of the weekly described their wives as victims of “love jihad”.

While Shah Rukh is married to Gauri Khan, Amir Khan to Kiran Rao and Saif Ali Khan to Kareena Kapoor.

CPI-ML booklet outlines western UP’s communal scene

November 3, 2014 by Nasheman

Lucknow: The Communist Party of India-ML Saturday released an exhaustive report as a 32-page booklet on the communal situation in western Uttar Pradesh.

The booklet titled “Paschimi Uttar Pradesh: Sampradayik Fasivaad ki nayi Prayogshala CPI(ML) ki tathyatmak padtaal” (Western UP: the new laboratory of communal fascism — a factual account) accuses the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of inciting communal passions in western UP in the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections earlier this year.

Releasing the booklet at the UP Press Club, senior Left leader and CPI-M politburo member Mohd. Salim said the BJP was trying to foment similar passions “with renewed energy” in wake of its Mission 2017 when assembly polls will be held.

He accused the BJP of inciting people over small rumours and frivilous incidents and giving them a communal tinge.

Salim said: “The BJP under directions from the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh is out in a planned way to destroy the social fabric of the country and state, as a result of which communal hatred is making serious inroads in western UP.”

Citing “Love Jihad” and religious conversions as examples of the BJP agenda, the Left leader added that after the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government took over in Delhi, communal incidents have gone up in many parts of the country.

He said that the CPI-ML had undertaken a detailed fact-finding mission in western UP to get to the bottom of the 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots that killed 63 and displaced several thousands.

Salim said he himself, All India Kisan Mahasabha state president Jay Prakash Narain and state committee member Ramayan Ram were tasked to carry out the scrutiny.

The booklet, he added, was a product of this probe. Earlier the CPI-ML had also released a booklet based on the criminal and political conspiracy behind the Muzaffarnagar riots.

(IANS)

Police targeted Muslims in Trilokpuri: Shabnam Hashmi

November 1, 2014 by Nasheman

Shabnam Hashmi is a known social and political activist fighting against communalism in the country. Her major contribution is the efforts she has undertaken for the relief and rehabilitation of the victims and survivors of communal violence, particularly those of 2002 anti-Muslim Gujarat carnage. In the wake of large-scale bloodshed in Gujarat, she felt an urgent need to fight the ideology of communalism on a day-to-day basis and carry out “absolutely action-oriented programme”. This led her, along with other activists and academics, to establish ANHAD (Act Now for Harmony and Democracy), a voluntary organisation in March 2003 in defence of the idea of India. As a founding and managing trustee of ANHAD, she has, in a decade, spread the areas of her activities to states including Delhi, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Haryana, Kashmir and Bihar etc. While her activism has won kudos among secular and progressive sections as her name was proposed in the list of 1000 women for 2005 Nobel Peace Prize, this has, many a time, invited the wrath of the Hindu communal forces and physical attacks by them. She believes that the rise of Modi poses an ever bigger challenge to secular forces as the incidents of communal violence have increased many times in the last few months, including the latest one in Delhi’s Trilokpuri area and tension in Bawana earlier. Against the background of this, Mishab Irikkur and Abhay Kumar interacted with Hashmi at ANHAD’s office in Nizamuddin, Delhi, on 28 October on a wide range of issues. Following are excerpts of the interview:

Last month ANHAD prepared a report on the hundred days of Modi regime and the question of minorities. What can minorities, particularly Muslims, expect from Modi?

If anyone is under the delusion that social and economic conditions of minorities will improve under the Modi regime or that they are going to benefit in any way, he or she should study the past records of Modi and the Sangh Parivar more critically. I have no doubt and hesitation in saying that Modi is a dictator and a fascist. Since his coming to power at the Centre there were more than 600 incidents of attacks on both Muslims and Christians. We have documented this in “100 Days under the New Regime: The State of Minorities in India – A Report” published by ANHAD and edited by John Dayal. Every single riot is now created and there is a well-oiled mechanism, run by the RSS and its sister organisations that work through the year to systemically manufacture incidents of communal violence. They are being assisted by the police who are highly communalised and they play a partisan role, targeting mostly Muslims.

Do you also see such mechanism working in Delhi’s Trilokpuri area where the situation has still not completely returned to normal?

I have been told that the police in Trilokpuri picked up nearly 50 young Muslims. They were beaten up and were even denied food. It was only after the intervention by activists like Kiran Shaheen that a court ordered that they should be provided food. Lawyers and their relatives were not allowed to meet them. Worse still, Block No 15 of Trilokpuri, where mostly Muslims live, was blocked by the police who did not allow anyone to enter. The police did a massive combing operation and did not let journalists go inside Block 15. News reaching us suggests that Muslims are undergoing atrocities. If minorities are not guaranteed a life with dignity and a life without fear by the government, then it inflicts the biggest harm to them. That is why I do not have any hope from the Modi Government. As I hinted earlier, the sense of insecurity and fear created by a large number of attacks on Muslims and Christians, including their Churches and Fathers, is likely to increase. It is high time we struggled for protecting the idea of India.

You have launched a nationwide campaign in defence of the idea of India. How is it under threat after coming of Modi-led BJP to power?

The idea of India is based on democracy, equality, secularism, justice, pluralism, cultural diversity, communal harmony, gender equality and women empowerment, etc. But the RSS and Modi’s idea of India is to establish a Hindu Rashtra which will only be for the people who believe in Hindutva, not even for all Hindus. In fact, under the India of RSS, only the upper castes will be considered as first class citizens and the rest will be reduced to second class citizens. In this Hindu Rashtra there will be no place for lower castes, classes, women and all those who believe in the Indian constitution, democracy and secularism. The UP unit of the Shiv Sena has announced that it will award a cash prize of Rs. 21,000 to those Hindus who have ten or more children. While the Shiv Sena is desperate to see the population of Hindus increase, it does not mind treating women as just child-producing machines! How unfortunate it is that the BJP Chief Minister of Haryana Manohar Lal Khattar blamed women themselves for the incidents of rape. Besides, RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat has said that everyone who lives in India is Hindu. He also wants to get the Ram Temple in Ayodhya built by 2019. The Hindu Right is also using the issue of cow slaughter to instigate anti-Muslim riots in Gujarat, Haryana and UP etc. Moreover, the issue of “Love Jihad” is fabricated and propagated by the Hindu Right to foment hatred against Muslims — a similar method was earlier used by Hitler against Jews in Germany.

Are you worried about the fact that some of the recent communal conflicts, as reported in media, were fought among Dalits/lower castes and Muslims, who are the most oppressed sections in the Brahmanical social system? How much the RSS has been able to “saffronise” lower castes, particularly Dalits?

The term “Dalit” is not simply a caste but a political category. Anyone who fights against caste system is a Dalit. Thus real Dalits cannot fight against Muslims. Those who are fighting against Muslims are a miniscule minority of their community and they have been saffronised by the RSS. The process of saffronization of lower castes has been going on for the last two to three decades.

You have worked with the victims of 2002 Gujarat communal violence. Is it true that now the RSS, the VHP, and the BJP do not want to organise riots on a massive scale. Instead, they want to keep it at a low intensity level so as to maintain the atmosphere of communal tension. In other words, do you see any shift in Hindu Right’ strategy about riots?

In the last few years, communal forces have changed their strategy. They are now going for low-intensity riots so that they may not be reported in media and the national or international attention could not be drawn to them. Even the locations of riots have shifted and now they are organised mostly in small places and rural areas with a view to creating and maintaining hatred among different communities and in places where people have lived in peace in the past. One should also keep in mind that the constructed image of Modi as the person standing for development (vikas), may be tainted if a large-scale violence, like 2002 Gujarat, breaks out in the country.

You have been leading campaigns against assaults on freedom of expression, communalisation of media and saffronisation of education etc. Could you tell us more about this?

Let me begin with social media. My ‘Facebook’ page is followed by 5000 friends and some 9000 followers. Earlier, whatever I used to post on my Facebook wall, it was liked by a large number of people. But today their likes have drastically gone down because people are frightened of a possible crackdown on them if they appear to be “anti-ruling classes”. Earlier, in social media, the presence of secular and communal contents was almost balanced but today the space is captured by communal forces. Increasingly, media is now owned and controlled by Right-wing corporate forces. The point I want to stress is that the secular voices and dissents in social media have been drastically reduced to one tenth of what they had existed earlier. There is also an attempt to saffronise education. HRD Minister Smriti Irani is just a new kid on the scene. This process of saffronisation of culture and education began some two decades back.

Moreover, over 60-70,000 RSS-run schools, Saraswati Shishu Mandir, teach hatred and they have penetrated in society. Communal-minded administrators, officers, academics and journalists have been placed at almost all the institutions of the country. Even the peaceful Kanwariya (devotees of Lord Shiva) have been militarised by the RSS. As far as TV programmes are concerned, they have been used to poison the minds of people. Who could forget that the demolition of Babri Masjid was preceded by telecasting the Ramayana serial? Today most of the soap operas are highly anti-women. The Hindu Right has also appropriated Uniform Civil Code as its agenda, creating fear among minorities. Let me make it clear that the advocacy of the RSS and the BJP for Uniform Civil Code is not aimed at democratising society but to use it as a tool to impose Brahminical culture on all of us where there will be no rights for women. Unlike the BJP, the kind of Uniform Civil Code I am supporting is based on the idea of equality, gender justice, freedom and democracy etc.

Your critics have alleged that you are soft on the Congress and you tend to overlook its failures. How far is it true?

I have strong differences with the Congress on its economic policies but I disagree with Left critics including those of the CPM, who talk about maintaining equal distance from both the Congress and the BJP. I also disagree with the view that the Congress and the BJP are the same. I think the Congress does believe in secularism and democracy in principle while the BJP is anti-democratic and anti-secular. But it is also a fact that when it comes to practice and implementation, the Congress has many times failed to fulfill its promises. The reason behind this failure is the growth of communal consciousness among a large number of Congress’ leaders and cadres. Yet, around 25 per cent of Congress’ leaders and cadres remain secular but in the BJP there is not even one percent secular force. In the absence of any secular and Left force at the national level, one should choose the lesser evil. About its failure to fully implement the Sachar Committee recommendations and to pass Prevention of Anti-Communal and Prevention Bill, it is the growing influence of communal consciousness in the Congress that has halted the welfare policy for the minority. But one should also not deny the fact that during UPA-I and UPA-II considerable work was done for minorities in the light of the Sachar report as well as other marginalised sections.

Mishab Irikkur (mishabirikkur#gmail.com) and Abhay Kumar (debatingissues#gmail.com) are pursuing Ph.D at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.

Audio recording: Real story of the Meerut 'Love Jihad' – In the words of the 'victim'

October 20, 2014 by Nasheman

This audio recording is a conversation with the girl, who was called a ‘victim’ of Love Jihad by right wing Hindutva forces. The interview took place on August 30, 2014 at her house, in Hapur with journalist Neha Dixit. It took place in the presence of her mother, T, who can be heard in the course of the interview. S, the girl, talks about how she and Kaleem were in love and wanted to get married but her parents were opposed to the match on religious grounds. Kaleem is an accused in this case and has been in jail for the last two months. She also says that she fears for her life.

This interview was not publish earlier for the fear of the girl’s safety, who has now been provided with police protection by the court. The name of the girl has been beeped in this clip to protect her identity.

Colonising India’s Muslims: Love, Jihad and Political Lust

October 18, 2014 by Nasheman

22-year-old Meerut women who alleged forced conversion and rape by Muslim men, has retracted her statements. (File Photo)

– by Farzana Versey, CounterPunch 

Chanting hymns and spraying holy Ganga water, a group of religious leaders and students from the rightwing conducted the purification ritual of a 26-year-old woman inside a police station in Dehradun, Uttar Pradesh. Her crime was that she married a Muslim and was allegedly forced to convert to Islam. Her saviours felt that bringing her back home and into the fold was not enough; she needed to be cleansed of any traces of Muslimness to be acceptable again.

This took place inside a police station with the cops around. It should tell us how political perceptions are brainwashing social attitudes in India.

We may laud the “U-turn” of an alleged victim denying she was a victim, but will such extempore anger have any effect? In Meerut a 22-year-old managed to get nine people arrested on the basis of a false charge of kidnapping, gangrape, and conversion. For many, the conversion seemed to be the real crime that made the state BJP ring alarm bells about Muslim men going around with a seduction to conversion blueprint.

After two months, it turns out that she was forced to make these serious allegations. In her statement to the police she wrote: “I was staying with my parents, but I ran away from home because I feel a threat to my life from my parents and relatives. I went with the boy belonging to a different community out of my own will.” Her parents were against her affair with Kaleem. Some members of Hindutva groups got wind of it and offered to help. Help for them meant milking it for political gain. ‘Love jihad’ had found one more victim, according to them, and Hinduism was therefore under threat from Islam.

The story of an almost love lost that has grabbed public imagination pays no attention to the “eight others” who are behind bars. The cleric Mohammad Sanaullah was said to be the main accused in the gangrape and conversion. Why is his innocence not highlighted? By concentrating only on the love angle, the ‘jihad’ against Muslims is allowed to continue to regain what is thought to be a lost colonial supremacy.

Forced conversions can be tried in court, but that would need evidence, which is not available simply because this does not take place, except for stray instances. Another reason to keep the paranoia alive is to feed the fear.

He talks about converting people to Hinduism and then says, “If they take one Hindu girl away, there will be at least 100 that we will…” and he pauses, as the crowd cheers and completes his sentence to gloat, “take away”. He does not stop there and goes on to say, “If they kill one Hindu, there will be 100 that we” and pauses, as the gathered crowd shouts: “will kill”.

This is not mere rustic appeal. As a member of parliament from Gorakhpur Yogi Adityanath has used the floor of the house to declare that Hindus would need to organise themselves. “They (the pseudo-secular forces) split the country on communal lines in 1947 and there is a conspiracy to split the country again on Pakistan’s agenda. There is a conspiracy against the Hindu way of life and the people are uniting against this. Hindutva is a symbol of Indian nationalism. The Hindu religion does not allow the superiority of any one religion. Even Muslims who go for Haj are known as Hindus.”

Our US-return PM Narendra Modi has been silent; the BJP cadre has been silent. Adityanath continues to be MP. He even appeared on a TV show where he transformed the mock witness box into a speaker’s corner. The real story of bigotry is not what he said but how the young studio audience rooted for him. This was not an anonymous forum. They would be recognised and seemed to take pride in that, unconcerned about how their peers would view them. Prejudice has become the new identity.

Fringe outfits are on national television speaking in a quasi-government tone. Its members distribute pamphlets against Muslims and nobody is arrested for it. Even if it is a political move prior to polls it reveals how society thinks or how they expect society to start thinking.

The love jihad incident is deviously linked with madrassas, which will be the big target eventually. Sakshi Maharaj, another one of those godmen-ministers that are part of the righting government, said, “Education of terrorism is being given in madrassas. They (the madrassas)… are making them terrorists and jihadis…It is not in national interest.”

If madrassas are teaching terrorism, it makes no logical or tactical sense for them to be counteracted with ancient Hindu texts. India is a nuclear power, has a space mission, an information technology hub. None of this has been possible because of the Vedas or any religious text. Yet, the human resources development minister spoke to officials about the introduction of Hindu texts and epics in the curriculum and the contribution of ancients to topics like science and philosophy.

In isolation, the latter does not seem like an idea to dismiss. It could be a lesson in history. However, the intent is not as innocent. It would be inflicting the history of Hinduism, the contribution of Hindus in a pluralistic and secular nation. RSS ideologue Dinanath Batra, whose books Modi has called “inspirational literature” in the foreword and are filled with gems about redrawing the map of India as “Akhand Bharat” (united India of the ancients), is promoting Hindu Rashtra. His works were made compulsory reading in 42,000 schools across Gujarat in June this year.

Union water resources minister Uma Bharti’s theory about the floods in Kedarnath last year while agreeing that cloudburst was the immediate cause went back to past glory to state that “the underlying reason was human excretion” that too due to the “atheists (who) came here, mainly for business purposes”.

Even if we were to make provision for comical asides, the geek generation enthralled by such history does not realise that the parchment is frayed. The men in saffron want them to feed cows, recite mantras and stop celebrating birthdays with cake, and wear swadeshi (indigenous) clothes. The distorted history that is sought to be corrected will wipe out incidents of rightwing terror, including the two major riots of 1992 and 2002 where Muslims were targeted.

Nazim was issued summons because he was considered a threat to peace and might indulge in booth-capturing and intimidating voters. He was asked to provide a bond if he did not wish to be arrested. Nazim could not read a word of the statement. He was, in fact, oblivious to all that was happening around him. Nazim is only a year old.

Not taking any chances for the by-polls held last month, the sub-divisional magistrate in Usmanpur village of UP made no distinction between Yaseen and his son Nazim. Both were dangerous. This bizarre tale is an extreme form of the increasingly fanatical attitude towards minorities in India. They are now even putting toddlers under suspicion by branding them.

Women and child development minister Maneka Gandhi said, “Money through trade of slaughtered animals goes into terrorism, therefore goes into killing us, why are we allowing this?” She added, “A slaughterer could be a Muslim but the transporter and the owners of the cows are often Hindus and non-Muslims. So it is not about religion but about trade and greed for money.” Would she have the courage to mention Hindu terrorism?

The Indian prime minister resorted to a backhanded insult to 170 million people when he said in the CNN interview: “My understanding is that they (al Qaeda) are doing injustice towards the Muslims of our country. If anyone thinks Indian Muslims will dance to their tune, they are delusional…Indian Muslims will live for India, they will die for India — they will not want anything bad for India.”

Not only was this slur swallowed, it was also applauded for inclusiveness. That the delusion of the al Qaeda prompted a note on patriotism and Indian Muslim fealty was made conditional on living and dying for the country did not seem to register or bother many. The message is clear. The loyalty of Indian Muslims needs to be flagged off by the head of government. Hindus do not need to prove they are citizens; their rights as worthy members of the Republic are assured.

Running through all this is an element of racial superiority. Subramanian Swamy of Ivy League education is an enthusiastic proponent of the Rashtra molecular heritage: “All Indians have Hindu ancestry and I will get Union Minister Najma Heptullah’s DNA tested in order to prove the theory.” Ms. Heptullah is the Minority Affairs minister and a senior leader who happens to be Muslim.

RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat stated, “The cultural identity of all Indians is Hindutva and the present inhabitants of the country are descendants of this great culture.” Had there been acceptance there would not be inequity and rejection. The greatness of such culture relies on artificial selection.

The development module too tries to mimic social evolution. It audaciously opposes the rare inter-community marriages by containing the coloniser within a ‘barbaric’ madrassa, and will not address the educated idea of pro-choice alliances. These are not the norm, so why would a political party with a huge mandate allow its members and its satellite groups to perpetrate such paranoia? The reason seems to be to use the women as territory analogy. A potent symbol was the jauhar, where women jumped into a well or the fire to protect themselves from Muslim armies in the 14^th century. Young Muslim men are seen as the inheritors of such armies in the contemporary context.

These images are regurgitated by sidestepping the truth and projecting lies. In a 2007 CounterPunch article I had shown how there were attempts to pass off the murder of Muslim Rizwan for marrying Hindu Priyanka as a class divide.

Bhagwat has said recently, “For the next 5 years we have to work with the aim of bringing equality among all the Hindus in the country. All Hindus should be drinking water at one place, should be praying at one place and after their death, their bodies should be burnt at the same place.”

This is a feeble attempt to accept the backward castes that have suffered due to Brahminical entitlement. That it needs to be reiterated exposes the inherent problem with social mores as reveled in by the rightwing Sangh parivar. The ‘cultural’ organisation has done little to ensure that these castes are not discriminated against. The new sound bites will not bring about change, for they are used to merely titillate. Dalits have not been named specifically, leaving the options open to abuse.

Hindutva can get away with marketing itself as an all-purpose karma and culture, the blandishment camouflaging despotism.

Farzana Versey can be reached at Cross Connections.

Meerut women says family got money from Hindu leaders and forced her to make false accusations

October 14, 2014 by Nasheman

Vineet Aggarwal a BJP leader caught in camera while giving money to victim’s mother.

Lucknow: In a fresh and dramatic twist to the ‘Love Jihad’ case involving a girl in Meerut, the victim Monday alleged that she was forced by her family to make false accusations that she was first gang raped by Muslim men and then forcibly converted to Islam.

The girl from Khakhrauda made the statement before a magistrate, making it a legally binding document.

Officials said she had approached the Senior Superintendent of Police of Meerut Saturday claiming that her parents were beating her after money stopped coming from certain Hindu leaders.

This, she told the district police chief, had been happening over the past one month until she fled the house for fear of being killed. She has also lodged a complaint with the police alleging a threat to her life from her family.

A teacher by profession, she had earlier alleged that she was gang raped by Muslim youth and then forced to convert to Islam. In a U-turn now she has denied this and has in the written statement claimed that certain Hindu groups and leaders had coerced her family into making these allegations.

Reacting to the developments, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) which had raked up the Love Jihad issue during the state assembly by-polls, said the whole issue was now turning murkier and demanded a CBI probe.

“A CBI probe will clear the matter,” Laxmikant Bajpayi, state BJP president, told IANS.

Other political parties, including the ruling Samajwadi Party (SP), however slammed the BJP for raking up a non-issue and alleged the party’s complicity in the whole matter. “The BJP owes an explanation to the people on why it raked up the matter which was unsubstantiated,” said Rajendra Chowdhary, state cabinet minister and party spokesman.

Senior Congress leader and Rajya Sabha member Pramod Tiwari has sought a detailed probe into the whole episode and said the role of everyone should be scrutinised.

(IANS)

Note: The Nasheman Urdu Weekly, in its 17th August issue, had stated that the women’s contradictory statements, proves that her alleged forceful conversion to Islam, and her alleged gangrape by Muslim men, are erroneous. Our Weekly had also quoted a local Moulana, who had said that the women had converted to Islam on her own will, and had also produced a document to the local magistrate.

Meerut woman denies rape, forceful conversion, says she eloped

October 13, 2014 by Nasheman

Meerut: The young woman from Meerut, who in August claimed she was abducted, gang-raped and forcefully converted to Islam, has retracted her earlier statement, telling police that she had in fact eloped with the accused.

The 22-year-old Hindu woman approached the police complaining of a threat from her family, and in a written statement, denied rape or conversion. She told police that she had gone with the Muslim man out of her own will.

In August, after the woman’s complaint, the accused along with seven others were arrested. The BJP workers in the state, including Yogi Adityanath, the BJP’s bypoll campaign in-charge in the State, had branded the incident as “love jihad”.

Right-wing Hindu groups launched an elaborate campaign in the State against “love jihad” in which they claimed Muslim men lured Hindu girls, tricked them into marriage and forced them to accept Islam.

Police said the woman left her home on Sunday due to the alleged threats and reached a women’s police station.

She was presented before a magistrate and is currently staying in Meerut Nari Niketan, Meerut Rural SP was quoted as telling The Hindu.

The accused Muslim man, Kaleem, and eight others were arrested after the woman had alleged on August 3 that she had been abducted, gang-raped and forcibly converted to Islam.

Tools for divisive politics: Love Jihad propaganda spurs hate, not dialogue

September 22, 2014 by Ram Puniyani

After the last general elections where Narendra Modi and his party won a majority overwhelmingly, the BJP has not been doing so well in subsequent by-elections. The Lalu-Nitish experiment is one model, but whether it will be replicated in different parts of the country is a million-vote question. The BJP appears to resort to the basic tools of divisive politics. On one hand Yogi Adityanath, with his venomous ‘hate speeches’ has come up as BJP’s major player; on the other the word of mouth propaganda of ‘love jihad’ is being spread like wildfire.

This year, Adityanath began his hate attack on Muslim minorities blaming all communal riots on Muslims when he campaigned for the BJP ahead of the general elections. In subsequent speeches he went on to make similar baseless allegations such as wherever Muslims are in the majority there is more trouble, or that when they trigger the violence then they also have to face the consequences.

None of this is grounded in the analysis of the communal violence in India. Referring to ‘Love Jihad,’ Adityanath said that if ‘they’ convert one Hindu girl, we will convert 100 Muslim girls. His unrelenting ‘hate speeches’ are going on at the time when the Prime Minister himself has asked for a ten-year moratorium on violence. Mr. Modi seems to be deliberately looking the other way when all this Hate propaganda is on.

The ‘Love Jihad’ propaganda is a double-edged weapon: By stating that Muslim youth are being trained to lure Hindu girls, on one hand they demonize Muslims and on the other they tighten their control of the lives of girls and women. In this propaganda, Hindu women are projected as gullible, easy to be lured and incapable of deciding for themselves. In a way the communal agenda’s twin goals are achieved here. Communal politics wants to marginalize the religious minorities at the surface level and at the deeper societal level it aims to restrict the rights and freedom of women.

BJP affiliates are not only indulging in word-of-mouth propaganda on this issue. They have also started forming fronts to oppose ‘love jihad,’ some of them have come up in western UP, and more seem to be in the offing. VHP has come to the forefront on this issue by stating that “Patriots will support our crusade against ‘love jihad’ that is leading the country towards another partition.” One more Sangh Parivar-related organization, the Dharma Jagran Manch, has started a similar campaign which is appealing to Hindus to oppose the ‘threat’ of ‘love jihad.’

As far as Hindu girls being converted to Islam through Love Jihad is concerned, it is a hoax- there is no doubt about that. A friend wrote from UP that he was to talk in a girls college there. He met a young faculty member all charged up to save Hindu girls, claiming that over 6,000 girls have been converted in his area. When confronted to give the names of some of the alleged converts, he retracted, saying he has heard rumours of it and so it must be true.

A booklet priced Rs 15 about the Love Jihad conspiracy has been published by some Hindu zealots: ‘How to Save Our Women from the Terrorism of Love Jihad’. It contains some alleged case studies. Most of these stories feature a typical pattern: a young Hindu woman lured into a relationship or into marriage by a Muslim man who had allegedly posed as a Hindu. It is claimed that those who get married often convert to Islam and need to be ‘rescued’ and this is where the RSS affiliates want to pitch in according to their plans.

While lot of historical material has come out on the issue of Love Jihad, two items in particular need to be mentioned. Many analysts have compared the Modi politics with the politics indulged in by Hitler, who used a similar tactic to polarize German opinion against the Jews, who were called the ‘internal enemy’. The Nazi propaganda held that Jewish young men had been luring German girls and polluting the purity of Aryan blood with a view to subjugating the German nation.

Similar tactics were adopted by Arya Samaj and Hindu Mahasabha in India in the 1920s, when organizations to save the honor of Hindu women were formed and pamphlets like ‘Hindu Auratonki Loot’ (Loot of Hindu Women) were brought out. This propaganda was a potent weapon to polarize the communities along religious lines.

Can this be combated in some way? There is news that some Muslim youth have planned peace marches in the areas to create an atmosphere of amity. I hope more such marches take place and can restore the sanity of our society and surely members from the majority religious community will join these marches spontaneously to boost the amity amongst communities.