In Jharkhand, the phrase “Love Jihad” has recently made news. Two headlines that recently caught my attention were “Love jihad ka garh ban raha hai Jharkhand?” and “Jharkhand me saal bhar me love jihad ki darjan bhar ghatnaein,” both dated December 25, 2022, and “Love jihad ki darjan bhar ghatnaein” (A dozen cases of love jihad registered in Jharkhand within a year). Dated December 26, 2022, the article asks “Is Jharkhand becoming a hotspot for love jihad?”
However, prior to August 2014, headlines in news stories describing relationships between members of other groups, as well as examples of broken promises, harassment, or forced religious conversion connected to them, did not use the term “Love Jihad.” In actuality, few residents of the state were familiar with the word.
Beginning at Ranchi’s Hindpiri Police Station around the beginning of August 2014, a case was opened. Tara Shahdeo, a national-level shooter, and Ranjit Singh Kohli were wed in Hindu ceremonies on July 7, 2014, at the Radisson Blu Hotel in Ranchi. Shahdeo filed a complaint against Kohli a month later, alleging that he had harassed her and had put pressure on her to convert to another faith. Both Kohli and her mother were detained and imprisoned. The mother-son pair are still free on bond, but even after nine years, the case is still being heard in court. Now, the matter is being heard in a CBI court.
However, how did the Shahdeo FIR become a “Love Jihad” scandal? This was a fairly little news item, but the national electronic media gave it extensive attention in the name of love jihad and it became huge news, according to senior crime writer Akhilesh Singh, who covered the case. Following this, the same pattern of coverage was adopted by the newspapers and media in Jharkhand. Even before 2014, complaints of fictitious marriages, concealing true names, infidelity, and conversions to other religions were made, but they were not referred to as acts of “love jihad.” The Shahdeo-Kohli case marked the start of this tendency here.
According to Singh, the media has no qualms about using the phrase “Love Jihad” indiscriminately, even if the police or government never refer to such incidents as such in their press notes or pronouncements.
Even Rishi Nath Shahdeo, Shahdeo’s cousin and the state convenor of the Hindu Jagran Manch, acknowledges that prior to 2014, he was unaware of the existence of “Love Jihad” in Jharkhand. He does, however, have a counterargument: “My sister was informed, ‘You are no longer Tara, but Sara, and that you would have to go through a nikah (Islamic marriage)’ She was compelled to convert even if the nikah did not occur. To marry a Hindu lady, a Muslim man must conceal his identity or take on a Hindu name. This is known as “love jihad.” Raqibul Hassan, also known as Ranjit Singh, was getting married under a false identity.
Politics around the “Love Jihad” topic became quite popular in Jharkhand as a result of the BJP and its affiliated organisations’ fervent media campaigns. Three months after the (Shahdeo) event, there were assembly elections in Jharkhand, and the BJP won a complete majority for the first time in the state.
In the next state elections, political parties could once again turn to topics like love jihad, according to senior journalist Ravi Prakash. The phrase first arose in Jharkhand nine years ago, he said. Even though it didn’t have much of an influence on those elections, BJP leaders promoted it. However, this topic will be brought up again in the 2024 assembly elections for political reasons, and it could have an impact since in recent years, harping on love jihad has effectively transformed the thinking of a significant portion of Jharkhand’s people.
In Jharkhand, “love jihad” is often associated with partnerships between Muslim boys and Hindu girls, although more lately, Muslim and Adivasi romances have also been included into this category.
One such instance from December was included among the “dozen love jihad cases” of the year, according to the headline from December 25. The murder of Rabika Paharia, age 23, of Sahibganj district, a member of the Paharia particularly vulnerable tribal group (PVTG), garnered a lot of public attention. Dildar Ansari, a Muslim boyfriend of Rabika, and his parents were detained on suspicion of murder. The event exposed the divisions in the area between the Adivasi and Muslim groups.
Aloka Kujur, an activist for the Adivasi community, focuses on how the case may affect the elections. According to her, “Now ‘love jihad’ is being converted into a Muslim vs Adivasi problem in order to sever the historical ties and start a split between the two communities. It is a horrible act, the Rabika case. Many females marry for love, but the union often crumbles thereafter. In these situations, the males often beat or even murder their partners. However, we must refer to this as a crime and not as jihad. This kind of aggression exposes the patriarchal worldview that pervades society and must be eradicated in order to stop violence.
“Love has existed in every era,” she continues. People who belong to many faiths, sects, castes, and languages fall in love and wed. However, the right wing is now attempting to incite hatred against such unions among young people under the guise of love jihad. Young people are afraid to marry into a different caste, community, or religion. I want to know whether Muslims are the only ones that marry Adivasi females. Hindus also engage in this practice, and many of these unions fail. But this is not jihad in the name of love.
