News review
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
Is Love the new face of Jihad?
Marriages, they say, are made in heaven. But some Muslim fundamentalists are using wedlock to wage jihad (holy war) and clear their path to paradise, RSS-affiliated outfits and the church in Kerala have claimed.
An organisation called 'Love Jihad' or 'Romeo Jihad' has enlisted the services of young Muslims to court Hindu and Christian girls, force them into wedlock and convert them to Islam, saffron groups have alleged.
These youths are operating nationwide, receiving funds from abroad and are also linked to drug trafficking and terrorism. Thousands of girls have been converted thus in the past few years, allege outfits such as the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and the Sri Ram Sene.
But an investigation by Kerala's director-general of police Jacob Punnose has failed to establish these claims. The DGP recently told the Kerala High Court he had no evidence to show an organisation named Love Jihad or Romeo Jihad had been created, albeit there could be a concerted attempt to force non- Muslim girls to convert after marrying Muslim boys.
Members of the Christian clergy have joined ranks with RSS organisations in warning women against Love Jihad.
They say Jihadi Romeos are also targeting Christian girls (although Islam does not require Christians or Jews to convert for marrying a Muslim). Even so, the church remains quiet about it's own alleged efforts to force non- Christian girls to convert for marriage.
Kerala, which has large populations of both Muslims and Christians, has traditionally been open to inter-religious marriages. But the issue of Love Jihad has been simmering for some time.
The police initially claimed the 'organisation' provided money to 'Jihadi Romeos' to buy costly gifts such as designer dresses and mobile phones to woo girls, before marrying and converting them. They said Love Jihad, which was funded from abroad, was targeting college students. Nearly 2,000 students had been converted in the past three years.
Hindutva and Christian groups also took up the issue. Things came to a boil when the parents of a Hindu and a Christian girl who had married Muslim boys alleged their daughters had been forcibly converted by Love Jihad. While ruling in favour of the parents, the high court directed DGP Punnose to investigate the allegations.
But the DGP's affidavit to the court went against the police's initial claims. It said, "No organisation or movement called Love Jihad or Romeo Jihad is so far identified as working in Kerala." He refuted the charge that Muslim youths were receiving funds from foreign sources to convert girls, and called the claim of their links with criminal and terrorist activities "baseless". The DGP added that except for the two cases in question, there had been no complaints of forced conversions, although inter- religious marriages and conversions were taking place in large numbers. Punnose said a few allegations had cropped up indicating that some organisations may have devised plans for converting women by force or deceit, and the police was investigating the cases.
"No actionable information has been received by the police so far to confirm that any organisation in indulging in such activities," he said. "However, the police will remain proactively vigilant and take action on all instances where any reasonable suspicion exists." RSS leader Gopalakrishnan said Love Jihad was operating in Kerala and the Sangh was "trying to protect Hindus from it". The Kerala Catholic Bishop Council had earlier come out with an article offering a district- wise break- up of the "abduction" of Christian girls by Love Jihad members. But Father Johny Kochuparambil, who penned the article, refused to discuss who the "abducted" girls were or explain where he got the figures from. He only said: "We got them (figures) from highly reliable sources and we are sure they are correct." He also kept mum on the church's insistence on forcing non- Christian girls to convert to Christianity before marrying a Christian.
But Rajendra Prasad, a leading social activist, said no one who knew Kerala's society could honestly say an organisation like Love Jihad could exist there. "There is not much opposition to inter- caste or inter- religious marriage here. In fact, social norms exist for it," he said. The whole issue is an effort by certain sections to communalise the society and thus protect their institutionalised set up."
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