Interfaithism poses a threat to Hinduism in India | Religious Affairs

Arbaz Mullah’s love story began, as they love each other often when he started looking for his dream wife, Shweta Kumbhar.

For about three years, they had been dating in many ways, and they promised to marry each other. But those secret oaths could not be fulfilled.

The love infuriated the relatives of Kumbhar, a Hindu, so they hired members of a remote Hindu group to assassinate the 24-year-old Mullah, a Muslim.

They did the same, according to police. On September 28, his bloody and broken body was found on a railroad track.

‘Love jihad’

When religious alliances between Hindus and Muslims and the needs of India, the ruling Prime Minister Narendra Modi Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and other Hindu Hindus have condemned what they call “love jihad”.

The a forbidden doctrine of conspiracy They believe that Muslim men who are cruel are deceiving women with the intention of forcing them to change their religion in order to rule the predominantly Hindu country.

The “love jihad” issue shocked the BJP and civil rights activists who warned them to destroy the guarantees of religious freedom and they put Muslims in different ways Hindu nationalists, encouraged by the prime minister who often stand up for women in connection with the Muslim uprising since its first election in 2014.

“Terrorist ideology despises Muslims as another and makes Hindus fear and fear that India will be transformed into an Islamic state,” said Mohan Rao, a retired professor of sociology at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi. religious weddings.

Gopal Krishna Agarwal, a spokesman for the BJP, said the party does not oppose religious marriages, which are legal, but added that concerns about “love jihad” are justified.

“Persuasion of a person with money, or coercion, or any other purpose of conversion, is not acceptable,” Agarwal said.

India’s National Investigation Agency and other court rulings have rejected the doctrine of “love jihad” as baseless. The census reflects the country’s interfaith movement since 1951, and India is still Hindu when Muslims make up about 14 percent of its 1.4 billion people.

Even so, liberal groups say violence against married people of different religions has intensified in recent years, under the influence of pro-Hindu proponents of such an issue. Hundreds of Muslim men have been beaten, and many families have been forced into hiding. Some have been killed.

‘I knew it could happen’

It was in stark contrast to the fears that Mullah and Kumbhar began dating in late 2018 in the city of Belagavi south of Karnataka.

Mullah’s mother, Nazima Shaikh, was worried. He is well acquainted with the regular stories followed by families of different religions in Karnataka, which is run by the Modi party.

“I was not happy because I knew how it would end,” Shaikh said recently at his home.

He tried to persuade Mullah to end the relationship, but she refused.

Meanwhile, the Kumbhar family was terrified. Shaikh said he asked them to bless their relationship but was told to “kill or be killed but not to allow their daughter to marry my daughter”.

Soon, Mullah began receiving threatening phone calls. First, they came from the Kumbhar family, and later from the brave Hindu group Sri Ram Sena Hindustan, or Lord Ram Army in India. He wanted money and for Mullah to be different from Kumbhar.

Kumbhar’s parents also wanted to prevent him from seeing her, so the family began gathering secretly in remote towns and villages, according to friends.

Muslim women pass by a sign displaying the name of the Hindu group Sri Ram Sena Hindustan in Belagavi, Karnataka. [Aijaz Rahi/AP]

As the threats grew, Mullah reluctantly agreed to end the relationship after being told it meant he would no longer be worried. But the couple continued to write secretly – and his family was furious when they found out. It was not long before he was summoned to meet with members of the Sri Ram Sena Hindustan.

Investigators say at the meeting, members of Sri Ram Sena Hindustan beat Mullah with clubs and beheaded him with a knife. He was later pronounced dead at the scene.

Ten people were soon arrested, although no charges have been filed against them. They include Kumbhar’s parents, who according to senior investigator Laxman Nimbargi admitted to paying for the killings.

The Associated Press could not be reached for comment. After spending some time in police custody, she now finds herself living with relatives who refused to allow her to be seen or to tell her whereabouts.

Sri Ram Sena Hindustan denied that his members had killed Mullah and said the group was on fire for “Hindu charity work”.

Their leader, Ramakant Konduskar, who calls himself a soldier in the Hindu liberation struggle, said he was not opposed to any religion but that people should marry within themselves. They see “love jihad” as a threat to humanity.

Hindu women perform rituals in their religious ceremonies in Belagavi [Aijaz Rahi/AP]

Some Modi-led regimes are now trying to turn their ideas into law.

Last year, lawmakers in Uttar Pradesh passed through India for the first time the law of “love jihad”., ordering that members of the various denominations submit a letter to the authorities within two months of their marriage.

Under the law, it is up to the officer to determine if the conversion was forced, a crime punishable by up to 10 years in prison. he turns forcibly.

So far, about 100 people have been arrested in connection with the law, although only a few have been convicted. Three other BJP-controlled countries also introduced similar ones.

Critics allege that the bills violate the copyright law. They also consider the laws to be old.

“Women are nothing,” said Renu Mishra, a lawyer and women’s rights activist in Uttar Pradesh.

Some freedom fighters, many of them Hindus, have organized social and legal aid groups for religious families and celebrated their stories on television.

But in Belagavi, a small town, such equipment and services are in short supply. The Karnataka government has recently seen an increase in anti-Muslim violence, which is fueling fears among the people.

In those places, Mullah felt he had nowhere to turn, according to those close to him.

“My son made a serious mistake in loving a Hindu woman,” Shaikh said.

He paused, looking for the right word, before continuing, “Is this what you get for loving someone?”