If there is one word that has been used in a most creative fashion to spread prejudices and hate against Muslims in India, it is the word “...
If there is one word that has been used in a most creative fashion to spread prejudices and hate against Muslims in India, it is the word “jihad”.
Over the past few years, Hindutva groups have accused Muslims of waging “land jihad” to take over property, “organ jihad” to transplant non-Hindu body parts into Hindu bodies, “corona jihad” to spread the virus and “UPSC jihad” to fill the ranks of the civil services with Muslims.
Driving these conspiracy theories is the fear of Islamic expansionism. But the situation on the ground belies these delusions. Most Indian Muslims live in a state of socio-economic and political marginalisation. But despite this, Indian Muslims have faith in Indian democracy and the Constitution.There has not been any widespread unrest in the community leading to calls for “jihad” against another religious community or the Indian state.
Ironically, the word “jihad” in India is used most frequently by Hindutva groups. For instance, the “love jihad” conspiracy delusion was frequently used by the Sri Ram Sene group in Karnakata to claim that Muslim men were conspiring to marry Hindu women as a ploy to get them to convert to Islam.
It’s clear that the time has come to reclaim the concept from the Hindutava hate jihadis and spread love in...
