The Sangh Parivar has ramped up its campaign against the alleged menace of cross-religious marriages in Uttar Pradesh, but the Bharatiya Janata Party is approaching the issue with a touch more caution. The favoured term among these Hindu nationalist groups for such cross-religious relationships is love jihad – the implication being that Muslim men are seducing and converting young Hindu women as an insidious way of boosting their community’s numbers, and consequently, electoral strength. After facing some criticism, the BJP decided to drop the term from its political agenda for the 2017 Uttar Pradesh assembly elections.
Instead, in a political resolution the party passed on Sunday, the BJP chose to muddy the waters, not naming either of the communities involved, and turning the conversation to rape instead of marital relations. Crucially, it also claimed that the state government was treating criminal suspects differently based on their caste and religion.
In doing so, the party appears to be focusing instead on tapping the deep well of discontent that has built up against the Samajwadi Party government over the last few years.
'A planned campaign'
“Rape of women of a particular community and involvement of people from another particular community in these incidents in the state, is either a coincidence or it is being done in a planned manner,” the resolution passed by the state unit said. “That is an issue of concern.” The resolution also spoke of the SP government perennially “shielding accused belonging to one community”.
The Sangh's grouse that the SP’s approach to law and order is blatantly communal is one that is constantly brought up across the state.
“I’m a Yadav. As such I should be supporting the SP,” said Rampal Yadav, a driver in Meerut. “But this government can be shameless sometimes. You can’t file a case against a Muslim, they simple don’t allow it to happen. Netaji [SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav] has openly said this.”
The problem came to the fore during last year’s Muzaffarnagar riots. The initial cases registered during the riots only named Hindus in the village, even though Muslims were also involved in the clashes – an act that encouraged right-wing Hindu leaders to whip up passions further. Later suggestions that the government was thinking about withdrawing all the hate speech cases against the Muslim leaders during the riots did the SP no favours.
“There is a general impression in the state of UP that if the accused are either Yadav or Muslims, then you have problems in getting justice,” said Prakash Singh, former Director General of Police in Uttar Pradesh. “If you look at what happened in Muzaffarnagar, the majority community felt that they were not going to get justice at the hands of the government, so they took it into their own hands and that’s what led to the carnage.”
The campaign against love jihad, which is being carried forward by many in the Sangh Parivar in an attempt to polarise Western UP, is gaining currency thanks to the same sentiment. By propagating organisations like the Hindu Behen Beti Bachao Sangharsh Samiti, the Right is leveraging the idea that Hindus need to take matters into their own hands because the government will not do anything to protect them.
“It’s crystal clear. The police cannot take on Islam or Muslims,” said Chetna Sharma, a lawyer from Meerut who is also a local convenor for the Durga Vahini. “There is so much pressure and manipulation from the administration that there is no question of the police dealing with cases of love jihad. This is why we have to take them up in court.”
This idea is then further confirmed by the behaviour of SP leaders, who are often blatantly communal in their approach. Take Kamal Farooqui’s comments after the arrest of alleged Indian Mujahideen commander Yasin Bhatkal, believed to have been involved in a number of serious terrorist attacks.
“Police should ascertain whether Yasin Bhatkal's arrest is based on crime or religion,” Farooqui said. “There have been instances in the past when cops have branded individuals as top terrorists, but have failed to prove charges against them.”
Although Farooqui was sacked as a secretary in the party because of the comments, the incident only confirmed a prevalent impression about SP’s approach. Senior SP leader Azam Khan’s claim that those who won the Kargil war were not Hindus but Muslims had a similar effect.
According to Singh, the former DGP, it is this impression that has created the space that allows both the Hindu right and questionable elements in the Muslim community to operate.
Adverse effects
“Muslims feel emboldened under the SP regime, and this leads to all kinds of adverse effects," he said. "From the BJP side there is reaction. They think that now that the majority community is unhappy, why not pull them further away from government and the Muslims, which would lead to the consolation of the vote bank on both sides.”
Singh, who has now fought for years to insulate police forces from administrative pressure, claims that much of the polarisation in the area can be blamed on the way the SP has approached law and order.
“All this love jihad is part of this. You wouldn’t have heard of this if the government had been fair and judicious,” Singh said. “It is an offshoot of the biased attitude of the government.”
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Instead, in a political resolution the party passed on Sunday, the BJP chose to muddy the waters, not naming either of the communities involved, and turning the conversation to rape instead of marital relations. Crucially, it also claimed that the state government was treating criminal suspects differently based on their caste and religion.
In doing so, the party appears to be focusing instead on tapping the deep well of discontent that has built up against the Samajwadi Party government over the last few years.
'A planned campaign'
“Rape of women of a particular community and involvement of people from another particular community in these incidents in the state, is either a coincidence or it is being done in a planned manner,” the resolution passed by the state unit said. “That is an issue of concern.” The resolution also spoke of the SP government perennially “shielding accused belonging to one community”.
The Sangh's grouse that the SP’s approach to law and order is blatantly communal is one that is constantly brought up across the state.
“I’m a Yadav. As such I should be supporting the SP,” said Rampal Yadav, a driver in Meerut. “But this government can be shameless sometimes. You can’t file a case against a Muslim, they simple don’t allow it to happen. Netaji [SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav] has openly said this.”
The problem came to the fore during last year’s Muzaffarnagar riots. The initial cases registered during the riots only named Hindus in the village, even though Muslims were also involved in the clashes – an act that encouraged right-wing Hindu leaders to whip up passions further. Later suggestions that the government was thinking about withdrawing all the hate speech cases against the Muslim leaders during the riots did the SP no favours.
“There is a general impression in the state of UP that if the accused are either Yadav or Muslims, then you have problems in getting justice,” said Prakash Singh, former Director General of Police in Uttar Pradesh. “If you look at what happened in Muzaffarnagar, the majority community felt that they were not going to get justice at the hands of the government, so they took it into their own hands and that’s what led to the carnage.”
The campaign against love jihad, which is being carried forward by many in the Sangh Parivar in an attempt to polarise Western UP, is gaining currency thanks to the same sentiment. By propagating organisations like the Hindu Behen Beti Bachao Sangharsh Samiti, the Right is leveraging the idea that Hindus need to take matters into their own hands because the government will not do anything to protect them.
“It’s crystal clear. The police cannot take on Islam or Muslims,” said Chetna Sharma, a lawyer from Meerut who is also a local convenor for the Durga Vahini. “There is so much pressure and manipulation from the administration that there is no question of the police dealing with cases of love jihad. This is why we have to take them up in court.”
This idea is then further confirmed by the behaviour of SP leaders, who are often blatantly communal in their approach. Take Kamal Farooqui’s comments after the arrest of alleged Indian Mujahideen commander Yasin Bhatkal, believed to have been involved in a number of serious terrorist attacks.
“Police should ascertain whether Yasin Bhatkal's arrest is based on crime or religion,” Farooqui said. “There have been instances in the past when cops have branded individuals as top terrorists, but have failed to prove charges against them.”
Although Farooqui was sacked as a secretary in the party because of the comments, the incident only confirmed a prevalent impression about SP’s approach. Senior SP leader Azam Khan’s claim that those who won the Kargil war were not Hindus but Muslims had a similar effect.
According to Singh, the former DGP, it is this impression that has created the space that allows both the Hindu right and questionable elements in the Muslim community to operate.
Adverse effects
“Muslims feel emboldened under the SP regime, and this leads to all kinds of adverse effects," he said. "From the BJP side there is reaction. They think that now that the majority community is unhappy, why not pull them further away from government and the Muslims, which would lead to the consolation of the vote bank on both sides.”
Singh, who has now fought for years to insulate police forces from administrative pressure, claims that much of the polarisation in the area can be blamed on the way the SP has approached law and order.
“All this love jihad is part of this. You wouldn’t have heard of this if the government had been fair and judicious,” Singh said. “It is an offshoot of the biased attitude of the government.”