Hindu girl and Muslim boy to tie knot, love jihad returns to haunt Karnataka

Mangaluru: The recent row over  a  Hindu girl’s decision to marry a Muslim boy in Mandya has raised the bogey of “Love jihad” once again in the state with Hindutava groups strongly opposing the marriage despite the clarification by the families that the two have been in love for over 12 years.

Unwilling to let it go, the saffron brigade claims it is yet another instance of Hindu girls being wooed by Muslim boys and then abandoned after a few years of marriage all in the name of “Love jihad.”  “These girls are taken to Ponnani in Kerala where they are converted to Islam and later harassed and even sold to the highest bidder,” they allege.

But police officials here claim "Love jihad" is merely a bogey raised by the saffron brigade to win support in the coastal region. "It is true that a few Hindu girls marry Muslim boys and are converted to Islam. But we have not come across any of them of being harassed later.

A simple  marriage and conversion cannot be called Love Jihad.  There are also cases of Muslim girls marrying Hindu boys and getting converted to Hinduism through the Arya Samaj," says a police officer. “There is nothing called love jihad,”  agrees Karnataka Komu Sauhardha Vedike district president, Suresh Bhat.

"The high courts of both Karnataka and Kerala have not been able to prove it exists. It is a mere invention of the sangh parivar and is part of their strategy to polarise the minorities. They are using beef and love jihad  to target Muslims, just like they are using conversions against Christians. They only want to whip up emotions," he charges..

"As Muslims and Christians are in large number in the  coastal districts, saffron outfits here need emotional issues to polarise the society and draw the backward classes into their fold . Being both prominent and dominant, the backward classes are essential to their survival in these parts," Mr Bhat argues.

But he is also concerned about  the growing attacks by Muslim outfits against Hindu boys  seen with Muslim girls. "Organisations like PFI have turned to be a mirror of the RSS.  Attack on youth by Hindu and Muslim outfits are proportionate to their respective populations," he believes.