The term ‘Love Jihad’ is not mentioned or defined anywhere in the Indian Constitution or in any law. Yet the Hindu nationalists declare it to be efforts by Muslim men to convert women of other religions to Islam by force or deceit. The newly proposed laws against ‘Love Jihad’ are being seen as successors of the Nuremberg and Anti-Miscegenation laws. In 1935, the Nuremberg laws banned marriages between Jews and those of “German blood” in Nazi Germany. In the U.S., many states used to prohibit marriages between whites and African- Americans under the Anti-Miscegenation laws.
In India, five BJP-ruled states have already proposed to introduce stringest punishment against love jihad, but the governments themselves have no concrete definition or evidence of love jihad. In fact, on 5th Feb this year, the central government declared that “The term ‘love jihad’ is not defined under extant laws, no such case of love jihad has been reported by any of the central agencies.” A few days ago, the National Commission for Women (NCW) also revealed that it doesn’t maintain figures pertaining to love jihad. In a significant judgement, the Allahabad High Court recently held that “a person’s right to live with people of their choice, irrespective of religion, is intrinsic to their right to life and personal liberty guaranteed by the Constitution.”
Despite the central government’s own denial and the rulings of different courts, various state governments and religious fundamentalists are on the verge of getting these laws passed in the legislative assembly. Some Hindu nationalists want to carry out social exclusion of Muslims from India, so they are spreading false information to misguide gullible Hindus in order to fulfil their ulterior aims. They want to infuse the concept of ‘Hindu-Rastra’ into the minds of common people to make them believe that Muslims and Islam are a threat to India and particularly to the Hindu religion. They want to make everyone believe that Muslims are going to conquer India and in order to stop them from doing so, there is an urgent need to disempower Muslims. In pursuit of this aim, love jihad is being presented as one of the reasons why Muslims aren’t good for the nation. Polarisation is being done so that communities spew venom against each other, thus making the mission of these fanatics a success.
Under Article 25 of the Indian Constitution, every citizen has the freedom to profess, practise and propagate any religion. The state shall not impede the citizen from doing so. However, if the Love Jihad laws are passed, it would mean the fundamental rights of citizens can be infringed by the government anytime. The introduction of such laws will also render the judgements of several courts inconsequential. It will be assumed that the courts can no longer be given an upper hand when it comes to the government’s decision-making power.
We are hurtling towards a morbid claustrophobic society, the ruins of which will be too deep to be redeemed. Let’s hope that we soon realise what this country actually needs in these times of heightened religious polarisation – which is more love and not hatred, and definitely not bogus campaigns like Love Jihad.

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YASIR AHMAD