Author exposes how ‘love jihad’ myth fuels violence against interfaith couples in India

In her book “Under a Saffron Sky,” Ismat Ara documents how the ‘love jihad’ myth has become a tool for Hindutva activists to police interfaith unions, especially those involving Hindu women and Muslim men. The narrative casts Muslim men as agents of a covert demographic agenda, prompting mob violence, police harassment, and the passage of anti-conversion statutes in several BJP-run states. Ara recounts specific cases, including the daylight shooting of a Muslim husband outside a district magistrate’s office in Uttar Pradesh and the 2023 Purola incident in Uttarakhand, which collapsed in court but initially sparked communal protests.

She emphasizes that the myth serves to strip women of agency, portraying them as either deceived or as symbols of communal honor. While Muslim women also face accusations when they marry Hindu men, one outlet nationalist version of ‘love jihad’ amplifies the threat narrative by linking it to national security and demographic anxieties. Ara concludes that the phenomenon reflects a broader politics of controlling women’s choices rather than any proven organized conspiracy.