Battle for India’s soul: Allegations spread of Islamist ‘Love Jihad’ to convert Hindu women through seduction, marriage and money
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Version 0 of 1. Fired up and full of vitriol, Hindu activist Rajeshwar Singh is on a mission to end centuries of religious diversity in India, one conversion at a time. His voice echoing off the walls of a Protestant church across a narrow street, Mr Singh railed against foreign faiths at an event last week to convert a Christian family to Hinduism in the rural town of Hasayan, 87 miles south of Delhi. “We will cleanse our Hindu society. We will not let the conspiracy of church or mosque succeed in Bharat [India],” he said, standing in the family’s front yard by a ritual fire lit to purify the poor, lower-caste converts. Emboldened by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s rise to power in May, leaders of his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have joined right-wing activists such as Mr Singh to openly declare India a nation of Hindus. About a fifth of India’s 1.27 billion people identify themselves as belonging to faiths other than Hinduism. Mr Singh is affiliated to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a vast nationalist volunteer group that aims to unify Hindus “to carry the nation to the pinnacle of glory”. The RSS brought Mr Modi into politics as a young man and helped seal his May election victory in India’s heartland, most notably in the most populous state of Uttar Pradesh, where Hasayan is located. The RSS has grown in prominence since the general election. Increasingly hardline statements by RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, an old friend of Mr Modi, have helped motivate millions of volunteers, like Mr Singh, already excited by the Prime Minister’s victory. “Just as those who stay in England are English, those who stay in Germany are German, and those in the US are Americans, all those who stay in Hindustan are Hindus,” Mr Bhagwat said in August, angering India’s Muslim and Christian minorities. The debate triggered by the comments revealed a deep ideological rift between those who believe the term describes a national identity as well as a religion, and liberals who think that in a multi-faith nation, all cannot be called Hindus. Adding to the controversy, RSS-linked groups have stepped up a campaign against “Love Jihad” – a term for what they consider to be an Islamist strategy to convert Hindu women through seduction, marriage and money. Their fears about Islam may be fuelled by al-Qa'ida leader Ayman al-Zawahiri’s announcement of the formation of an Indian branch of his militant group. Previous police investigations have found no evidence of an organised “Love Jihad”. But the concept has gained credence across central India in recent weeks, leading to sometimes violent protests. While avoiding the term “Love Jihad”, Mr Modi’s BJP last week adopted the subject of forced conversions as a campaign issue ahead of the 13 September by-elections in Uttar Pradesh, a state prone to sectarian strife. Simultaneously, activists such as Mr Singh have stepped up what they see as necessary defensive measures – converting others “back” to Hinduism. Hinduism does not usually seek converts, but it does not have strict rules against the practice. “The Hindu wave has just begun. In 10 years we will convert all Christians and Muslims,” shaven-headed Mr Singh said with a grin, to murmurs of approval from other organisers of the ritual. His colleagues included a former Adventist preacher now dedicated to Hindu “homecoming” conversions and a businessman from the city of Agra, home to the Muslim-built monument, the Taj Mahal. Mr Singh’s 10-year deadline is unrealistic in a country of 175 million Muslims, who account for around 15 per cent of Indians and constitute the third-largest Muslim population in the world. But such displays of bravado are worrying moderates in a country whose long history of inter-religious co-existence is punctuated by bloody outbreaks of strife. Reuters |