BJP MOVIES FULL THROTTLE AHEAD, 'LOVE JIHAD' NOW OFFICIAL SLOGAN FOR POLARISATION

NEW DELHI:The BJP today officially took off the kid gloves and gave prime status to what it terms “love jihad” at its Uttar Pradesh executive meeting. Under pressure from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh that has taken over the party, the BJP that has 71 Lok Sabha seats in UP, legimitized rumours that have torn apart the social fabric of the state since Muzaffarnagar went up in communal flames.

BJP UP spokesperson Vijay Bahadur Pathak said in no uncertain terms, “we cannot ignore the social situation in the state when we are holding our state executive meeting. We are shocked to see a large number of cases in which the victim is a Hindu and the tormentor is a Muslim. It is our responsibility to analyse it and act accordingly.”

Quotes from RSS leaders have also been sprinkled liberally over the media saying that since RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat had declared India to be a Hindu state, “it is a signal for all of us to protect Hindu victims. Obviously the BJP will also take similar decisions.”

There are no government or official statistics to confirm the BJP’s claim of rising rape of Hindu girls by Muslim men. BJP state president Laxmi Kant Bajpai insisted that the incidents of “Love Jihad” are increasing in UP because of the minority appeasement policy of the SP government.”

BJP Rajya Sabha MP Vinay Katiyar insisted in Mathura that the SP government was behind this, and was protecting those involved in ‘Love Jihad.’

The Samajwadi party chief minister Akhilesh Yadav said that all this was “politically motivated the propaganda, putting up a weak defense of “what can we do if people fall in love”. He held a press conference to point out that all the cases were unverified by the media and exaggerated out of proportion. “Referring to the Badaun, Faizabad and Mohanlalganj cases Yadav spoke of the political linkages in these cases, pointing out that the media had helped by distorting the facts.

The BJP and RSS through this move have completely taken away the freedom of choice, guaranteed under the Indian Constitution, by communalising inter-religious relationships and marriages through nuanced threats. And given to itself and its cadres the power to step in and take action against those seen violating the allegedly “moral” tenets the BJP is clearly setting out for society. This carries the danger of inter religious relationships being communalized to feed into the concept of ‘love jihad’ and polarizing society further.

Western UP is flooded with rumours of inter-religious relationships, with the onus being placed on the ‘Muslims’ for converting the girls and forcing them to elope. Video clips are in circulation without being checked by the state government that seems to be completely out of its depth in checking the spread of this communal poison that has not been authenticated or verified, and circulates through word of mouth. Remaining unchecked, these rumours have started acquiring the credibility of truth with the non-Muslims of different castes getting polarized on this issue.

Love Jihad as a political tool to consolidate votes emerged first in Karnataka where the state BJP and the other Sangh parivar outfits made it a rallying cry for the Assembly elections last year. In Mangalore this became an issue with Karnataka’s deputy chief minister KS Eshwarappa using the term and being slapped with a notice by the Election Commission for divisive remarks.

Mangalore, described by opposition leaders as a laboratory for the communal forces, has a population of 22 per cent Christians and 18 per cent Muslims making it the “perfect place” for polarizing society through hate campaigns. Young people were targeted, and attacked with girls in particular being singled out for smoking or drinking. There was a reaction, however, in Karnataka against this moral policing that eventually made it difficult for the BJP to stick to the ‘love jihad’ campaign with the same fervour for long.

Relations between communities are being very effectively destroyed in western UP to begin with through these rumours. Most incidents of violence are now starting after days of rumours of the Hindu girls being attacked by Muslim boys. In Muzaffarnagar too the violence was reportedly triggered off by an eve teasing incident that was never confirmed in all its details. However, the story exaggerated several times over spread like wildfire along with the term ‘love jihad’ that entered the Jat dominated belt for the first time. Panchayats and Mahapanchayats were held where the rumours were further legitimized, and MPs and MLAs gave impassioned speeches of taking ‘revenge’ for the humiliation and rape of “our daughters.”

It became impossible for fiction to be filtered from the truth as a compromised state government machinery and a weak leadership was unable to counter the intense propaganda with facts. The opposition has disappeared from Uttar Pradesh with the BJP and the RSS sailing through with this propaganda, while the SP and the Bahujan Samaj party remain locked at each others throats.

The BJP decision to legitimize a new level of moral policing is fraught with the danger of polarization that will be played out in the districts and villages of Uttar Pradesh. Sensing the advantage of winning 71 of the 80 Lok Sabha seats in UP, the BJP is determined to consolidate its initial hold on the all important state that determines the complexion of the central government. The absence of an opposition, reduced together to just nine seats in Parliament, is reason enough for the BJP to include and endorse a plan to counter Love Jihad and the alleged conversion of Hindus at its state executive meet.