Truth vs Hype of love jihad

The alleged gang-rape and conversion of a Hindu girl in Meerut, in western Uttar Pradesh, galvanised Hindutva groups, who have used this incident to intensify their campaign against what they call ‘love jihad’ – the organised wooing of Hindu girls by Muslim men on false pretenses. The same charge was made when a young Hindu woman was killed in Faizabad in central UP. This week, NDTV retraces the evidence in Meerut and Faizabad to discover whether there is any basis to the ‘love jihad’, or has it been conjured up by Hindutva fantasists as a means to enforce patriarchy and keep the communal pot on the boil.

manishchowhan