How the BJP persuades people to believe in 'Love Jihad ' ?

 

On November 24, 2020, the government of India's most populated state passed an ordinance against forced religious conversion done for marriage. Its formal name was the Prohibition of Unlawful Religious Conversion ordinance, and it got a very media-friendly catchy term: "Love Jihad" Months later the ordinance was converted into an act by the legislative assembly of UP.

  You may think that it's a normal incident occurring in only a single Indian state. But Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttrakhand have introduced such laws. Now you could say that this issue exists because these states are BJP-ruled states and it wants to impose Hindu-nationalistic politics in the country. But there is another side - several Indian citizens are supporting these laws. A research study published by the Pew Institute in 2021 reported that 76% of Hindus who feel being Hindu is very important to truly be Indian, feel that they need to stop Hindu women from marrying outside their religion. 

And many incidents have proven that these laws are being demanded by the citizens. Like this 2019 case in which two consenting adults Ibrahim and Anjali married on their own will in 2018, but as soon as Anjali went back home hoping to convince her parents about the marriage, she was locked up by her father and sent to a mental asylum, stating that she was mentally disturbed. On contrary to the premise on which these laws are being made, statistics show that interfaith marriages and religious conversion aren't prevalent in India.

 The Pew Research study also reported that around 0.7% of the participants said that they were raised as Hindus but now identify with a different religion, and 0.8% of people said that they were raised in a different religion but now identify as Hindus. While, a study conducted by Indian Human Development Survey in 2005, found out that only 2.2% of all married women were married outside their religion. And among those interfaith couples, the highest percentage was amongst Christians and Sikhs, not Hindus. But despite the low numbers, if you watch TV or attend a BJP political rally, you may think that the issue of religious conversion is extremely prevalent in India. 

This is not to say that the issue doesn't exist but there is no evidence to prove that it exists at a scale that the political speeches and TV news claim it does Despite this, many people are convinced about the issue of Love Jihad. And in this blog, we will try to discuss how the BJP has convinced Indians that Love Jihad is a prominent issue.  Now you may think that Love Jihad is a new phenomenon created by the BJP government in 2014. But that's not true at all. The inception of Love Jihad can be traced back to the 1920s .

During an era of shuddhi, which was a purification movement to reclaim Hindus who had converted to other religions. This is what Charu Gupta claims, who wrote a research paper on the issue of Love Jihad. The shuddhi movement was spearheaded by Arya Samaj. The basic characteristic of this movement was to build a campaign against the conversion of Hindu women by Muslim men. Newspapers, pamphlets, and posters were used to popularize this campaign. Books in which Muslim men were depicted as villains gained popularity too. Some examples of the books are Hindu Auraton ki Loot and Humara Bhishan Haas. Several poems gained popularity too. A poem written in 1928 and later banned, called Chand Musalmanon ki Harkaten, stated: Loose translation: They drove dial to increase the power, created plans to convert others into Muslim. "They roam about in the street of the village, and bewitch the women.

This campaign became so popular that The Hindu Mahasabha even stationed their male volunteers at railway stations to prevent Hindu women in Benaras from eloping with Muslim men. So the issue of Love Jihad isn't a new phenomenon. But the current issue originated in 2009 when the BJP-led Karnataka government initiated an investigation into Muslim men associated with two Muslim political outfits - Popular Front of India and Campus Front. The government claimed that the men were wooing Hindu and Christian girls. Despite these claims, if you study the courts proceedings or the official statements given by the government, you will find no evidence regarding Love Jihad.

 The Karnataka government's allegations were proved wrong and the Karnataka police closed the case in 2009. Moreover, the BJP government has said that they have no data or definition about Love Jihad. But we should be aware of the fact that to build such narratives, data or evidence doesn't matter. Academics Shivam Shankar Singh and Anand Venkata Narayana, call this phenomenon of Love Jihad an alternative reality. In their recent book, they showed that humans think that their decisions are not influenced by others. But the political leaders influence our decisions by building a narrative. 

In their book, Shivam Shankar Singh and Anand Venkata Narayana suggest that the political leaders build narratives using a 5-step process - Objective, Narrative, Context, Campaign, and Content. The authors use this framework to explain how BJP convinced people of Love Jihad. The first step is to formulate a concrete objective. And that for the BJP government is to consolidate Hindus as a vote bank. We discussed it in a previous blog . The blog explained how the Sangh Parivar helps BJP win votes by creating issues that can help create a singular identity for Hindus. For example, to create a polarised atmosphere in Rampur and help BJP attract Dalit votes, the local Sangh organizations often help consolidate Hindu support using the issues of Ram Mandir or Love Jihad.

 So the ultimate objective of Love Jihad is to consolidate the Hindu voters. The next step is to build a narrative around the objective. What is the narrative? That Hindus Are Under Threat . And it is done in two ways: The first set of narratives is built to establish the fact that the BJP is the sole protector of Hindus while the other parties choose to side with other religions. The second way is by establishing a strong Hindu identity by instilling pride about the Hindu rulers of the past, Hindu art and culture, and making a case that invaders came and destroyed this Hindu identity and then instill the sentiment that Hindus are under threat. 

The next step is giving context. So the context of the narrative "Hindus are under threat" is that Muslims want to convert Hindus and establish their dominion over the country. And Historical anecdotes and events are used to establish this context. The massive oppression, killings, and conversion of Hindus under Muslim rulers like Firoz Shah Tughlaq, Aurangzeb, and Tipu Sultan are used to justify and strengthen this belief. And this creates a link that the present-day Muslims want to reiterate what their historical rulers did. The next step is building a Campaign. And this is where Love Jihad comes in. 

The issue of Love Jihad becomes a campaign in itself. The final step is to provide content to strengthen people's belief in the alternative reality of Love Jihad. As we mentioned how books and pamphlets were used in the 1920s during the Suddhi movement campaign; in modern times such content is being created too. A few years ago, Vishwa Hindu Parisad established a hotline to tackle Love Jihad, and it claims to have received 1500 calls within 3 months. Another fringe group Shri Ram Sena launched an anti-love Jihad campaign in 2009 called "Save our Daughters, Save India". Such campaigns amplified in 2013 in western UP when tensions were fueling between Muslims and Jats.

 In the age of social media, it has become easier to create such content. This campaign amplified again in 2014 when Yogi Adityanath claimed that Love Jihad is an international conspiracy created against Indians.  And this framework shows how BJP created an alternative reality of Love Jihad in India. I would like to reiterate that forceful conversions are taking place in India, But there is no evidence to prove the scale at which our political leaders talk about this issue. In 2012, the Chief Minister of Kerala admitted that since 2006, over 2500 women had converted into Islam, but there was no evidence that all of these were forced conversions. The difference of opinion in the case of Love Jihad is based upon the fact that forceful conversions are taking place but the scale at which our political leaders exaggerate this issue doesn't match the reality.

 The Conversion laws imposed in several states do not completely ban inter-religious marriages. For example, in Telangana, if a couple wants to register their marriage under the Special Marriage Act then they should give prior notice of 30 days to the marriage officer of the district. And 30 days give enough time to many organizations to hound the couple and their families to stop the marriage, even though the couple and their families are supportive of the marriage. And many people might not see this logic until they come out of the alternative reality. 

Article Credit : Soch By Mohak mangal