By Yajush Gupta

“He told me that his name was Raja and belonged to my caste. I eloped with him on August 16 and stayed at his house that night. Next day I realized that he was a Muslim. I tried to run away, but he locked me in a room, forced me to sign an affidavit and a Kazi conducted our Nikah on August 18. After a few days I managed to call up my father and informed him of my whereabouts. I was then rescued.”

Waseem AKA Raja was booked under Section 363 and 366 of the IPC for kidnapping and compelling the minor for marriage.

“Tara was kept under confinement for one month, tortured and forced conversion to Islam. He even changed her name to Sara, to which she protested. Ranjit Kumar Kohli`s actual name is Rakibul Hasan, and Tara got to know of this shocking revelation only after her marriage.On the first night of their marriage Hasan called 20-25 Hajis and forced her to convert to Islam. After her constant refusal, she was beaten up.”

Ranjit Kumar Kohli AKA Rakibul Hasan, husband of national level shooter Tara Shahdeo was arrested for allegedly assaulting his wife because of her refusal to convert to Islam.

And undoubtedly, these are not the only dreadful instances of ‘love jihad’

A marriage that was supposed to be based on affection and love turns into a ghastly religious play-off, a trifling imposed conversion.The first instance appeared in 2009 in the states of Kerala and Karnataka. It reportedly happened as part of an organized effort by radical Muslim institutions, the primary being the Popular Front of India,a Kerala Muslim organisation. There are horrific examples of abuse and blackmail, since inter religious marriages are often capped with disapprobation.

Love Jihad is one disturbing truth about conversion of Kafir women to Islam by Islamists under the pretense of love. A brutal version of psychological warfare, where young minds are disabused of their concept of love and marriage. What starts as a romance ends up in a trap and ruins lives.

Conversion is compulsory for any woman marrying a Muslim. The turbulent moot on love jihad has surprisingly created a rumpus both in the media and the society.Allegations stemming from the saffron brigade to secularists have been raging, and rightly so, 2667 young women have been converted to Islam in the state of Kerala alone since 2006 as reported to the state legislature by the current chief Minister of Kerala ,Mr Oommen Chandy

Some do walk out of the marriage but others are compelled to carry on because of the various personal situations. And this is exactly how love jihad’s exploits the situation. The cases where girls choose to stay married, those instances do not become a news is understandable.

Financial allure is shown to boys to participate in Love Jihad, in addition to religious brain washing. Here is a Text message disseminated by ‘Students of Muslim Youth Forum’

“If a Muslim youth marries a Hindu Brahmin girl, he would be awarded with Rs 5 lakhs, similarly if someone gets hitched with a Sikh Punjabi girl, he would be given Rs 7 lakhs. If the girl is from Kshatriya Hindu community, the cash reward would be Rs 4.5 lakhs, Gujarat Brahmin girl Rs 6 lakhs, Punjabi Hindu Rs 6 lakhs, Christian Roman Cathlolic Rs 4 lakhs, Jain Rs 3 lakhs, Gujarati Kutch girl Rs 3 lakhs.” Such Islamic organisations provide funds to buy costly gifts such as designer dresses , bikes and electronic gadgets to pursue girls, before marrying and converting them. Reportedly funded from abroad, targets have mostly been college women. Nearly 2,000 female students have been converted in the past three years. These figures are of course undervalued. Love Jihad is not pervasive in India alone, but is a global phenomenon. Referred to as “Religious Grooming”, cases have been reported in Europe and specifically in the UK about Islamists aiming young girls and converting them in the smokescreen of love.

The Oxford Handbook of Religious Conversions notes the appeal in conversion:

It is well established that effective bonds are of particular salience to conversion in other groups as well, either in the form of existing friendships or even short term acquaintances. Religious leaders from a wide variety of traditions are clearly aware of this and instruct their congregants to create social ties through such techniques as “love bombing” and “flirty fishing”

Because of its secrecy, as maintained by the external sources, it is difficult to locate its origin in our society. By eclipsing it with love , it is easy to cry foul when someone actually raises voice against this. And well ,this is exactly where the Indian pseudo-secularists comes in.

Although marriage in India has primarily been within the same religion,changes in cultural values and impact of westernization has opened course to more mixed marriages. And even though the constitution of India guarantees ‘religious freedom’, but religious biases and conflicts are common, more so where one party is Islam.

Love jihad is one gloomy reality, terror disguised in false love. Anybody ,be it secularists, politicians or activists should never ignore this sheer reality in their attempt of safeguarding their vote bank.Their deranged and deceptive secularism can cause irreparable damage even to the most tolerant Indian society.

At least they should now try to restrain them from corrupting the essence of ‘love’ and ‘marriage’ before it gets ripped into pieces by such sadistic extremists.

Yajush is studying Journalism. Opinions expressed here are his own.



Twitter: @yajush_gupta