Love jihad (or Romeo jihad) is an Islamophobic conspiracy theory promoted by Hindutva activists that aims to misrepresent consensual marriages between Hindu women and Muslim men to be a part of broader agenda of initiating religious conversions into Islam. The conspiracy theory purports that Muslim men target Hindu women for conversion to Islam by means such as seduction, feigning love, deception, kidnapping, and marriage, as part of a broader demographic "war" by Muslims against India, and an organised international conspiracy, for domination through demographic growth and replacement.
The conspiracy theory relies on disinformation and is noted for its similarities to other historic hate campaigns as well as contemporary white nationalist conspiracy theories and Western Islamophobia. It features Orientalist portrayals of Muslims as barbaric and hypersexual, and carries the paternalistic and patriarchal notions that Hindu women are passive and victimised, while "any possibility of women exercising their legitimate right to love and their right to choice is ignored". It has consequently been the cause of vigilante assaults, murders and other violent incidents, including the 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots.
Created in 2009 as part of a campaign to foster fear and paranoia, the conspiracy theory was disseminated by Hindutva publications, such as the Sanatan Prabhat and the Hindu Janajagruti Samiti website, calling Hindus to protect their women from Muslim men who were simultaneously depicted to be attractive seducers and lecherous rapists. Organisations including the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) have since been credited for its proliferation in India and abroad, respectively. The conspiracy theory was noted to have become a significant belief in the state of Uttar Pradesh by 2014 and contributed to the success of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) campaign in the state.
The concept was institutionalised in India after the election of the BJP led by Narendra Modi. Right-wing pro-government television media, such as Times Now and Republic TV, and social media disinformation campaigns are generally held responsible for the growth of its popularity. Legislation against the purported conspiracy has been initiated in a number of states ruled by the party and implemented in the state of Uttar Pradesh by the Yogi Adityanath government, where it has been used as a means of state repression against Muslims and crackdown on interfaith marriages. A 2017 case brought before the Supreme Court of India led to a wider probe by the National Investigation Agency of 11 interfaith marriages in Kerala that were already the subject of legal proceedings; the agency found no evidence of legally actionable coercion and reiterated that religious conversion is allowed by the Constitution of India.
In Myanmar, the conspiracy theory has been adopted by the 969 Movement as an allegation of Islamisation of Buddhist women and used by the Tatmadaw as justification for military operations against Rohingya civilians. It has extended among the non-Muslim Indian diaspora and led to formation of alliances between Hindutva groups and Western far-right organisations such as the English Defence League. It has also been adopted in part by the clergy of the Catholic Church in Kerala to dissuade interfaith marriage among Christians.
Background Regional historical tensions
Foreign Policy correspondent Siddhartha Mahanta assessed that the modern Love Jihad conspiracy has roots in the 1947 partition of India. The ensuing mass migrations of Muslims and Hindus between India and Pakistan included rampant reports of sexual predation and forced conversions of women by men of both faiths. Women on both sides of the conflict were impacted, leading to "recovery operations" of these women by both the Indian and Pakistani governments, with over 20,000 Muslim and 9,000 non-Muslim women being recovered between 1947 and 1956. According to Mahanta, clashes between the faiths repeated in the following decades, as cultural pressure against interfaith marriage rose on both sides.
By 2011, Hindus were the religious majority in India, at 80%, with Muslims at 14% an increase from 9% from 1951 while the Hindu population of Pakistan has remained at 2% and that of Bangladesh fallen to 8%. In the 1951 census, West Pakistan (now Pakistan) had 1.3% Hindu population, while East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) had 22.05%.
Marriage traditions and customs
Through the 2000s and 2010s, India witnessed a rise in love marriages, in contrast to a long tradition of arranged marriages. However, tensions continue around interfaith marriages, along with other traditionally discouraged unions. In 2012, The Hindu reported that illegal intimidation against consenting couples engaging in such discouraged unions, including inter-religious marriage, had surged. That year, Uttar Pradesh saw the proposal of an amendment to remove the requirement to declare religion from the marriage law in hopes of encouraging those who were hiding their interfaith marriage due to social norms to register.
One of the tensions surrounding interfaith marriage relates to expectations of marital conversion, which may be forced. Marriage in Islam is a legal contract with requirements around the religions of the participants. While Muslim women are only permitted within the contract to marry Muslim men, Muslim men may marry "People of the Book", interpreted by most to include Jews and Christians, with Hindus and other idolators excluded. According to a 2014 article in the Mumbai Mirror, some non-Muslim brides in Muslim–Hindu marriages convert, while other couples choose a civil marriage under the Special Marriage Act of 1954. Marriage between Muslim women and Hindu men (including Sikh, Jaina, and Buddhist) is legal civil marriage under The Special Marriage Act of 1954.
Hindutva and right-wing politics Love jihad in politics has been closely tied to Hindutva, a Hindu nationalist movement, which is associated with the BJP Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi. The anti-Islamic stances of many right wing Hindutva groups like Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) are usually hostile to inter-religious marriage and religious pluralism, which can sometimes result in mob violence motivated by allegations of love jihad.
Timeline Early origins and beginnings Similar controversies over inter religious marriage were relatively common in India from the 1920s until independence in 1947, when allegations of forced marriage were typically called "abductions". They were more common in religiously diverse areas, including campaigns against both Muslims and Christians, and were tied to fears over religious demographics and political power in the newly emerging Indian nation. Fears of women converting was also a catalyst of the violence against women that occurred during that period.
The Indian Express identified a case in Karnataka as the first time a public allegation of "love jihad" was used to attempt to unwind a love marriage. In August 2009, an 18-year-old Hindu woman eloped and married a Muslim man after her father had refused permission for the union. Her father, unsuccessful in retrieving her on his own, induced the Karnataka High Court to order a police investigation into a supposed jihad, and the woman was ordered to return to her parents for the duration of the proceedings. By November of the same year, the police filed an interim report concluding that the marriage was consensual; the woman returned to her husband afterward.
Love jihad allegations rose to national awareness in September 2009, when the Kerala High Court directed police to investigate two claims of college-age women being forced to convert to Islam for their husbands.
According to the Kerala Catholic Bishops Council, by October 2009 up to 4,500 girls in Kerala had been targeted, whereas Hindu Janajagruti Samiti claimed that 30,000 girls had been converted in Karnataka alone. Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana general secretary Vellapally Natesan said that there had been reports in Narayaneeya communities of "Love Jihad" attempts. Following the controversy's initial flare-up in 2009, it flared again in 2010, 2011 and 2014. On 25 June 2014, Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy informed the state legislature that 2,667 young women converted to Islam in the state between 2006 and 2014. However, he stated that there was no evidence for any of them being forced to convert, and that fears of Love Jihad were "baseless". Muslim organizations such as the Popular Front of India and the Campus Front have been accused of promoting this activity. In Kerala, some movies have been accused of promoting Love Jihad, a charge which has been denied by the filmmakers. The Bollywood films PK and Bajrangi Bhaijaan were accused of promoting Love jihad by Hindu outfits. The actors and directors denied that their films promoted Love jihad.
Around the same time that the conspiracy theory was beginning to spread, accounts of Love Jihad also became prevalent in Myanmar. Wirathu, the leader of 969 Movement, has said that Muslim men pretend to be Buddhists and then the Buddhist women are lured into Islam in Myanmar. He has urged to "protect our Buddhist women from the Muslim love-jihad" by introducing further legislation. Reports of similar activities also began emerging from the United Kingdom's Sikh diaspora. In 2014, The Sikh Council alleged that it had received reports that girls from British Sikh families were becoming victims of Love Jihad. Furthermore, these reports alleged that these girls were being exploited by their husbands, some of whom afterwards abandoned them in Pakistan. According to the Takht Jathedar, he alleged that "The Sikh council has rescued some of the victims (girls) and brought them back to their parents".
Congress Party era (2009–2014) The initial formations of the conspiracy theory were solidified when various organisations began joining. Christian groups, such as the Christian Association for Social Action, and the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) banded against it, with the VHP establishing the "Hindu Helpline" that it started answered 1,500 calls in three months related to "Love Jihad". The Union of Catholic Asian News (UCAN) has reported that the Catholic Church was concerned about this alleged phenomenon. In September, posters of right-wing group Shri Ram Sena warning against "Love Jihad" appeared in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. The group announced in December that it would launch a nationwide "Save our daughters, save India" campaign to combat "Love Jihad". Muslim organizations in Kerala called it a malicious misinformation campaign. Popular Front of India (PFI) committee-member Naseeruddin Elamaram denied that the PFI was involved in any "Love Jihad", stating that people convert to Hinduism and Christianity as well and that religious conversion is not a crime. Members of the Muslim Central Committee of Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts responded by claiming that Hindus and Christians have fabricated these claims to undermine Muslims.
In July 2010, the "Love Jihad" controversy resurfaced in the press when Kerala Chief Minister V. S. Achuthanandan referenced the alleged matrimonial conversion of non-Muslim girls as part of an effort to make Kerala a Muslim majority state. PFI dismissed his statements due to the findings of the Kerala probe, but the president of the BJP Mahila Morcha, the women's wing of the conservative Bharatiya Janata Party, called for an NIA investigation, alleging that the Kerala state probe was closed prematurely due to a tacit understanding with PFI. The Congress Party in Kerala responded strongly to the Chief Minister's comments, which they described as deplorable and dangerous.