Madhuri Kotasthane is a stressed parent. She has been trying to constantly monitor the movements of her 19-year-old college-going daughter.
Kotasthane also has a 22-year-old son who is pursuing higher studies at a university abroad, but she is not too concerned with his daily schedule. She was not always like this. Her obsession with her daughter’s itinerary started some months ago when an activist of the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) visited Hindu households in their housing society and introduced them to the idea of ‘love jihad’.
For Kotasthane, a homemaker, who neither reads the newspapers nor watches any TV news channel, the idea of ‘love jihad’ was frightening. When the activist told her about the Shraddha Walkar murder case, wherein the live-in partner had murdered Walkar, chopped her body into several pieces and threw them at multiple places in Delhi, she googled the story and read it. She was horrified and since then has been living in fear that her daughter can become a victim of ‘love jihad’.
Kotasthane’s daughter says she has started to lose friends because of her mother’s “paranoia”.
The daughter says, “My mother’s paranoia is making my life miserable. She is now also converting my father to think like her. She wants to know all that I do through the day. My friends laugh at me and I have lost friends too. My mother thinks that some Muslim man will trap me, marry me, and convert me. It has become too stifling now.”
Activists of Hindutva organisations, including the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), have started campaigns to sensitise Hindu households to the perils of ‘unsupervised freedom’ for their daughters. These parents are told to keep watch on the movements of the girls in the households. If there is any deviation from the ‘normal’ daily schedule, the parents can contact the activists, who will then track the movements and help the parents take corrective steps, says another parent. With their movements being tracked to avoid getting into love marriages, many of the girls are angry at the behaviour of their parents.
“People will come and say anything. Shouldn’t our parents use their own intelligence? My friend’s parents are also indulging in the same thing. Our lives are getting stifled,” says another college-going girl.
Since November 20, 2022, when the first Hindu Jan Akrosh rally was held by fringe Hindu organisations in Parbhani in eastern Maharashtra, over 50 such rallies have been organised across the Maharashtra to combat ‘love jihad’. Attended by ministers and top leaders of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde group), these rallies are succeeding in polarising the Hindus and Muslims and making both parties aggressive. Held in each of the 36 districts of the state, those who are part of these rallies say they will stop when the Maharashtra government enacts a law against ‘love jihad’.
For miles visible to the eyes, it is a sea of saffron in these reallies. There is saffron in the flags, caps, saris, stoles, shirts and much more. Even the festoons and the podium are in saffron colour. Whether the rally is in Mumbai, its suburban areas, or the districts across Maharashtra, every speaker reiterates the need for an economic boycott of the Muslims.
The large attendance of women at these right-wing rallies is a new phenomenon, pointed out Shankar Gaikar, General Secretary, Vishva Hindu Parishad (Maharashtra Unit).
“Love jihad resonates with women. There is also that fear that they will be a target of love jihad. This is the reason for them attending the rallies in such big numbers,” says Gaikar.
Gaikar, a regular speaker at these rallies, feels they reflect the mood of the Hindus and it is an indicator that they will not take the “harassment” meted out by the Muslims.
He tells Outlook, “The activists of the VHP, Bajrang Dal, Durga Vahini, and the other affiliates attend all the big Hindu functions and create awareness about love jihad and land jihad. We make sure that our girls are not converted through love jihad. Their target is to make everyone a Muslim. We will continue the Hindu Jan Akrosh rallies till the government does not bring in a law against love jihad.”
The vibrations of the Hindu Jan Akrosh rallies resonated in the Maharashtra Legislature, forcing Devendra Fadnavis —Deputy Chief Minister in charge of the Home portfolio— to make a statement in the Legislative Council during the budget session in March this year. He informed the legislators that the state government was actively considering a new law against ‘love jihad’. He said this law will be within the Constitutional framework. He had also informed that the director general of police will be instructed to sensitise the police force. In addition, a standard operating procedure will be issued for taking quick action in cases where the parents complain that their daughters have been cheated through ‘love jihad’ and cannot be contacted.
