Book On ‘Love Jihad' Stories Published By Firm Tied To RSS To Be Launched At Delhi's World Book Fair

A collection of stories on love jihad by a company which is part of a newly formed group of publishers associated with the RSS will soon be launched at the ongoing World Book Fair in Delhi, organised by the National Book Trust (NBT).

The Indian Express reported that the 86-page book is titled ‘Ek Mukhauta Aisa Bhi’ (A Mask Like This), with the tagline “Love Jihad Par Kendrit Kahani Sangrah”, and includes 15 stories on the topic authored by Dr Vandana Gandhi, a teacher of sociology and education in Bhopal.

The publishers, Archana Prakashan, said the book will be released on January 10 at the fair, which is being held at Pragati Maidan from January 6-14.

“It’s a book based on true stories of incidents of love jihad. It is being published to create awareness among Hindu girls,” Om Prakash Gupta, chief executive, Archana Prakashan, told The Indian Express.

Archana Prakashan is part of Rashtriya Sahitya Sangam, a group of 12 publishers from various parts of the country.

Besides Archana Prakashan, the group includes: Suruchi Prakashan, Jammu-Kashmir Adhyyan Kendra and Sanskrit Bharti (Delhi); Kurukshetra Prakashan (Kochi); Lokhit Prakashan (Lucknow); Sahitya Sadhana Trust (Ahmedabad); Sahitya Niketan (Hyderabad); Akashwani Prakashan (Jalandhar); Bharatiya Sanskriti Prachar Samiti (Cuttack); Gyan Ganga Prakashan (Jaipur); and Shreebharti Prakashan (Nagpur), added the newspaper.

According to Hindu fringe groups, love jihad is an activity under which young Muslim men target young girls belonging to non-Muslim communities for conversion to Islam by feigning love. Even though individual reports have spread, all official investigations in India launched in 2009, 2010, 2012 and 2014 have found no evidence of the activity.

In November last year, the Rajasthan education department had asked all schools to take students to a fair organised by Hindu Spirituality and Service Foundation where booklets on "love jihad, Christian conspiracies" were being distributed by right-wing groups.

A Bajrang Dal stall has books expounding how girls can save themselves from "love jihad", citing actors Aamir and Saif Ali Khan's case in which the men "abandoned their Hindu wives to marry other Hindu women."

Another book says that Muslims have been using love jihad to convert Hindus for the last thousand years. A pamphlet, with the picture of actor Kareena Kapoor Khan, explains how Muslim men lure Hindu women into loving them, which is followed by conversion, reported News18.