Members of a Hindu organization were apprehended in their homes in Uttar Pradesh‘s Muzaffarnagar district after they announced plans to visit Darul Uloom Deoband in Saharanpur district requesting a ‘fatwa’ against Muslim youths for allegedly tying a ‘Kalawa’ (sacred red thread) on their wrists to ‘trap Hindu girls‘ and promote ‘love-jihad’. Kranti Sena and Shiv Sena had declared their intention to request a written fatwa from Darul Uloom.
The police took notice of the situation and detained them in the Muzaffarnagar city and Charthwal area. The Station House Officer Rakesh Sharma stated that officials from Saharanpur district attempted to pacify them but no charges were filed against them.
Lalit Mohan Sharma, the founder of Kranti Sena, spoke out against the detention, saying Kranti Sena condemns this kind of action by the Yogi government and warns against it. We will not remain passive and will organize a demonstration against the government on the issue, and Deoband will also be surrounded.
The incident reflects a simmering tension between Hindu and Muslim communities in India, and their divergent perspectives towards each other’s religious practices. The issue of ‘love jihad’ — which alleges that Muslim men pretend to be Hindu to woo Hindu women and convert them — has been a recurring theme in recent times. While some believe it’s a widespread problem, others deem it is a fabrication meant to stoke religious divisions.
India has seen an increase in instances of religious intolerance and aggression lately, often along Hindu-Muslim lines. The ruling party’s Hindu nationalist ideology, which seeks to elevate Hindu interests and push a homogenizing agenda, has been accused of fermenting religious polarization in the country. However, the issue of ‘love jihad’ caters to the deeper apprehensions of lovers of social conservatism within the Hindu religion, who may be uneasy about women dating and marrying outside the faith.
This incident suggests that India is still grappling with accommodating a range of beliefs and opinions within its pluralistic society, and religious orthodoxy can still be exploited to create conflict and division.
