BJP man in Kerala sets up helpline to fight ‘love jihad’

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A Christian man is starting his own version of the Sangh Parivar’s Hindu Helpline to stop alleged incidents of ‘love jihad’, describing it is an attempt to counter secret plots to convert Christian girls to Islam.

Renjith Abraham Thomas, who is a leader of the BJP’s minority religions wing, the Minority Morcha, said he had received encouragement from many Christians. Jimmy Poochakkatt, a spokesperson of the Syro-Malabar Church, said he was aware of the helpline but declined to comment on it.

The renewed attention to ‘love jihad’ comes within weeks of an unusual and communally charged court case in Kerala. On May 24, the state high court annulled a wedding between Shefin Jahan, a Muslim man, and Hadiya, a formerly Hindu woman who converted to Islam. The court said Hadiya (previously called Akhila) could not be married without the “active involvement” of her parents. It also ordered the police to conduct a probe into suspected conversions of Hindu women by groups linked to the Islamic State.

The Hindu Helpline in Ernakulam, Kerala has been the subject of allegations of illegal or unethical behaviour. In 2015, a widely cited investigation by the news sites Cobrapost and Gulail found it had coerced testimony from women, forcibly drugged some of them, and sought deliberately to “create a true fear in the society, about Muslims,” as one member of the helpline service was quoted saying.

THE ATTENTION TO ‘LOVE JIHAD’ COMES WITHIN WEEKS OF AN UNUSUAL AND COMMUNALLY-CHARGED COURT CASE IN KERALA