The Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) on Thursday launched a nationwide public "awareness campaign", claiming that "love jihad" and illegal religious conversions are taking place across the country.
Awareness campaigns, valour march
The month-long 'Jan Jagran Abhiyan' by the RSS affiliate seeks to create "a deterrent force" against "love jihad", a term used by right-wing organisations alleging that Muslim men are luring Hindu women into relationships to convert them to Islam.
The outfit's nationwide campaign also seeks to drum up support in favour of its demand for enactment of a central law against illegal conversions and 'love jihad'.
As part of the campaign, the Bajrang Dal -- the VHP's youth wing -- will take out 'Shaurya Yatra' (valour march) in every block of the country from Thursday to December 10, VHP joint general secretary Surendra Jain told reporters at a press conference. "The Bajrang Dal will take out the Shaurya Yatra across all blocks in the country so that a sense of 'shaurya' is developed among the youth and nobody dares to make our sisters and daughters victim of love jihad," he added.
Jain said the VHP will carry out 'Dharma Raksha Abhiyan' from December 21 to December 31.
Meanwhile, Durga Vahini, the VHP's women's wing, will also carry out a campaign to make girls aware of the love jihad and alert them against falling in "such traps", the VHP leader said. "Through Durga Vahini, a deterrent force will be created by spreading awareness among the girls," he added.
'Love jihad most cruel form of religious conversion'
Announcing the launch of the campaign, Jain said while religious conversion is a nationwide concern, "love jihad is the most heinous, cruel and inhuman form of religious conversion."
Jain also released a list of more than 400 cases, registered by police in various states including Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Kerala and Delhi over the past 10 years, and alleged that all these cases were related to 'love jihad'. "They are just tip of the iceberg as they are not even 10 per cent of the total incidents of love jihad," he claimed.
The VHP leader said the role of social organizations, along with the government, is "very important in mitigating" such a situation. "In view of the scenario, we are announcing the launch of the VHP's nationwide Jan Jagran Abhiyan today," he said.
VHP demands anti-conversion laws
Jain said a total of seven states have anti-conversion laws but they are not enough to deal with the menace of illegal conversion and love jihad across the country.
"Cases of love jihad have come to light because of some states having anti-conversion laws. There is a strong need for enactment of a stringent central law to check love jihad and illegal religious conversions in the country," he said, appealing to the Union government to consider bringing such a law.
Love jihad in Shraddha Walkar murder
This comes after the VHP and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party have demanded a probe of the 'love jihad' angle in the Shraddha Walkar murder case. In fact, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Thursday said that there exists solid 'evidence' of love jihad in the case.
"I see it (ignoring love jihad) as a politics of appeasement by some. It is a concern for security of women. There is evidence of love jihad. Even in Aaftab Poonawala's polygraph test, it is said that he revealed his actions will take him to jannat. There are reports on it," Sarma said.
Walkar's live-in partner Aaftab Amin Poonawala has been arrested by the Delhi Police and is accused of killing her. Poonawala (28) allegedly strangled Walkar in May this year and cut her body into 35 pieces which he kept in a fridge for almost three weeks at his residence in south Delhi's Mehrauli before dumping them across the national capital over several days past midnight.
Last month, activists of the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) and its affiliated organisations held a protest in Nagpur against Poonawala, seeking the death penalty for him. The protest was held at Variety Square in Nagpur city, in which activists of the VHP, Durga Vahini, Matrushakti, and Bajrang Dal took part.
(With inputs from PTI)
