How To Protect 'Daughters Or Sisters' From 'Love Jihad'?

The Hindu Janajagruti Samiti offers advice on how to snoop on your girls. Learn self-defence techniques such as karate and nunchaku to protect yourself.  Keep a close watch on your daughter's daily activities: keep a note of her school and college timings.

These are among the pieces of advice offered by a Hindutva group called the Hindu Janajagruti Samiti to parents anxious that their daughters that their daughters will fall victim to love jihad ‒ the claim made by hardline saffron groups that Muslim men are waging a concerted campaign to woo Hindu women in order to convert them to Islam.


The only problem is that the claims don't add up. In areas where love jihad is said to be rampant,  such as in Western Uttar Pradesh, many people had never heard of the concept before, as reported by Scroll.in. No evidence of such a campaign has ever been produced, but the idea was deftly employed to polarise Hindu voters during the general election campaign earlier this year. Ironically, the phrase seems to have come from the Catholic church in Kerala in 2009. The Hindu Janajagruti Samiti soon became the first Hindutva group to pick it up.

The Samiti, which achieved notoriety for attacking art exhibitions displaying paintings it claimed were offensive, has released a list of suggestions for parents to follow if they want to keep their daughters safe from so-called love jihadis.

These are excerpted from its 2009 book titled Love Jihad.

Here are eight:

1. Be cautious about her wearing a headscarf, since it becomes difficult to recognise a girl who wears a headscarf and sits behind a ‘Love Jihadi’ on a two-wheeler.

2. Promptly inform Hindu organisations about the unknown young jihadi faces loitering around the school or college campus.

3. Think of consequences before buying luxury items for your daughter! Give her a new dress, ornaments, costly mobile phones, cameras etc. only after judging their necessity.

4. Tell your daughter about the agonising life of a Jihadi woman ! "Polygamy, burqa, divorce, financial dependence, wifebeating and many offspring are the day-to-day sufferings of a Jihadi woman. Hindu parents should make their daughter aware of this life during her puberty." – Dr. Shrirang Godbole, Pune, Maharashtra.

5. Introduce your daughter to the dangers of "Love Jihad" ! "Mere narration of the superiority of Hindu Dharma to your daughter will not stop the conversions. Introduce your daughter to the dangers of ‘Love Jihad’ to stop these conversions." – Mr. Sameer Darekar

6. Give her a new dress, ornaments, costly mobile phones, cameras etc. only after judging their necessity.

7. Since some cases of ‘Love Jihad’ have taken place with the help of mobile phones, check her incoming calls intermittently. Remember, that the saved number of a ‘Love Jihadi’ in her mobile may be under a false name.

8. A girl who is in a physical relationship with a Jihadi boy and hence, has lost her power of discrimination : If you feel that she has been subjected to vashikaran or black-magic, perform spiritual remedies on her. Once she improves, get her married to a suitable Hindu boy.