Interesting article
The Hindu : Open Page : Savarkar and Sangh : a muddled equation
Why is the PM silent on the Sangh Parivar's 'love jihad' campaign? - Rediff.com India News
The entire Sangh Parivar, including the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Hindu Jagran Manch, Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad and the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha, have now joined hands to fight 'love jihad'; in UP, inspired by the likes of Yogi Adityanath, an MP who has been put in charge of the BJP's campaign for the coming 11 by-elections in the state.
This is a throwback to the 1920s when the Arya Samaj and Hindu Mahasabha cynically exploited the idea of violation of a woman's body as a means of cohering an artificial Hindu identity and communalising large numbers of people. A
shuddhikaran (purification) campaign too was launched as part of this to 'reconvert' Muslims, especially Dalit Muslims, to Hinduism.
The central strategy behind such campaigns is to create irrational fears and insecurities and bring them into intimate spaces: The home, the family, the bedroom. The campaign does not need a cataclysmic event or even a genuine case of a forced Hindu-Muslim marriage or conversion. Even carefully planted rumours and whisper campaigns will serve the purpose of sowing fear and polarising communities.
It does not matter if the young Hindu woman, declared a victim, entered into a relationship with a Muslim man out of free will. In fact, the whole idea is to deny such free will or independent agency to the woman. She is, by definition, innocent and gullible, while the Muslim man is wicked, sexually charged and violent. She must be protected against the vile designs of the 'love jihadi'.
These terrible stereotypes serve a definite purpose: Of playing on the patriarchal dread of female sexuality and free will, and of permitting the self-appointed guardians of community 'honour' to police the behaviour of young women. This is similar to, but much more despicable than,
khap panchayats banning the use of mobile phones by young women, as has happened in a number of villages in Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.