[First published in YouthKiAwaaz]
Love jihad. Population jihad. Forced conversions. Muslim appeasement.
You cannot live in India or be in contact with Indians without hearing these words multiple times every week. Whether it be your family or school WhatsApp group, discussions in the office cafeteria, dinner party conversations or debates on news channels — when you hear people go on and on about these topics, you almost start to believe that “Hindu khatre mein hai/ Hindus are in danger” and that ‘something’ should be done immediately to ‘safeguard’ the religion and those who practice it. Maybe not everyone genuinely thinks that Hindus will be reduced to being a religious minority in the country, but many certainly believe that they have got a raw deal and that it is a disadvantage to be born a Hindu in India.
Many of us intuitively or anecdotally realise that these conspiracy theories are just that — conspiracy theories. However, these falsehoods have been repeated so often by high ranking politicians, government functionaries and mainstream media that they have almost become the truth.
Moreover, in the absence of hard facts, it is almost impossible to counter any of the claims. That is where the book, “Love Jihad and Other Fictions” comes in. The trio of journalists, Sreenivasan Jain, Mariyam Alavi, and Supriya Sharma brought hard-nosed journalistic scrutiny to these viral claims, and in this book have laid out the ‘simple facts to counter the viral falsehoods.’
They used a combination of looking at publicly available data, seeking information through RTIs, contacting the leaders who make/ made these claims, and did on the ground reportage to arrive at the truth behind each of the issues.
The book follows a simple format. The falsehoods are grouped into four broad classifications — love jihad, population jihad, conversions and Muslim appeasement. Each individual issue is compressed into a heading, the claims are described in detail, depending on the nature of the claim either the data is analysed (or lack of supporting data noted) or the story is investigated through on-ground reporting, and a single line conclusion states if the issue is fact or fiction.
While some of the claims are debunked by analysing data, but you don’t need a background in statistics to understand the simple graphs which are completely self-explanatory. Other stories which deal with specific individuals or events are subject to proper investigative journalism, including reading available information and interviewing the various stakeholders before arriving at the conclusion.
The four main sections covered in the book are:
Love Jihad:
Love Jihad is apparently a conspiracy whereby Muslim men get women of other religions to fall in love with them with the objective of converting them to Islam prior to marriage. The book examines the prominent instances of “love jihad” before establishing that in each of those cases, the intent behind the inter-religious relationship was not to convert the woman to Islam. The authors also analysed the complete list of cases of “love jihad” before arriving at the conclusion that the numbers are too low to be considered a ‘conspiracy’.
Population Jihad:
The proponents of this conspiracy cite government records to claim that Muslims are waging a holy war by producing more children, and that the population of Muslims will exceed that of Hindus in a few decades. Many, including high ranking politicians have also alleged that there is large scale migration of Muslims from neighbouring countries, which is responsible for changing the religious demographics of border districts. The book analyses the available data behind each of these claims, and concludes conclusively that there is no basis for making any of the claims.
Forced Conversions:
According to this conspiracy, Christians plan to take over India through mass forced conversions, and the proponents of the theory allege that many who undergo conversion continue to hide the fact in official records. The book analyses existing government data to show that the percentage of Christians has not gone up. They also investigate the allegations of forced conversions to prove that those who did convert did so out of their own volition.
However, through the same on ground interviews they also establish that while there are some people who self-identify as Christian and go to church regularly, they continue showing their original religion in their official records in order to enjoy the benefit of reservations and other affirmative action.
Since affirmative action is intended to compensate for generations of oppression, the book makes a strong case for extending reservations to Dalit Christians and Dalit Muslims also. This section also discusses whether or not the anti-conversion laws enacted by several states is compatible with the provisions of the Constitution which give the right to “propagate” your religion.
Appeasement of Muslims:
Hindutava parties accuse other political parties of “Muslim appeasement”, and claim that haj subsidy, funding of madrassas, and the fact that Muslim men can practice polygamy prove that Muslims are mollycoddled to the detriment of other religions. The book examines each of these issues separately and explains exactly how none of them offers any special privileges to Muslims. In fact, the authors argue, if a Universal Civil Code is implemented, people belonging to the majority religion will stand to lose the most.
The Epilogue is the most heart wrenching section of the book, because it uses publicly available data to show how violence against religious minorities have gone up exponentially in the last nine years. Which some of the violence may have been directly orchestrated by those who enjoy political patronage, all the violence took place only because the dominant political climate allows hate and hate crimes to be normalised.
The book ‘Love Jihad and Other Fictions’ debunks many of the myths we hear every day, and provides facts to counter the falsehoods. Anyone who wants to know the truth behind the claims, should read the book, because it ensures that we are aware of the facts and are no longer acting through ignorance.
As is the case with Kunal Purohit’s ‘H Pop: The Secretive World of Hindutva Pop Stars‘, having read the book, it will be up to us to either choose to counter the narrative and challenge falsehoods with facts, or to choose to be silent. Whatever we choose, the choice will be ours.
The book is published by Aleph Book Company. I received a review copy, but the views are my own.
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