Rajasthan: Police orders inquiry into ‘love jihad’ pamphlets at Jaipur fair
The organisers of the Hindu Spiritual and Service Fair have distanced themselves from the controversy.
The Jaipur Police on Sunday ordered an inquiry into pamphlets about “love jihad” being distributed allegedly by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal at an event in the city, PTI reported. The action came soon after media reports said that the Rajasthan government had asked schools to send students and teachers to attend the fair.
Pamphlets at the event accused Muslim film actors of trapping Hindu women by marrying them, and also suggested that “love jihad” could be prevented by checking books and mobile phones of women. They said that “love jihad” takes place at beauty parlours, mobile recharge shops, ladies’ tailors and Muslim hawkers’ outlets.
The pamphlets have now been withdrawn, and the organisers of the Hindu Spiritual and Service Fair have distanced themselves from the controversy. “We are here to promote ideas of spirituality,” Rajendra Singh Shekhawat, an official of the foundation that organised the fair, told The Times of India. “We don’t endorse any ideology.”
Another official, Somkant Sharma, told PTI: “I have no idea if such pamphlets have been distributed. The fair is totally based on the work of service.”
Members of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and the Bajrang Dal have denied that the pamphlets were distributed from their stalls.