In Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh, activists from Bajrang Dal and Vishwa Hindu Parishad are monitoring men entering Garba venues. Representational picture/PTI
This Navrati, it’s the dance of politics that is grabbing headlines. “Love jihad”, a right-wing theory that Muslim men try to seduce Hindu girls and convert them to Islam through marriage,” has reared its ugly head in Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh amid the nine-day festivities.
Garba events are at the centre of the controversy as reports emerge of young Muslim men trying to enter the venues. Outfits like the Bajrang Dal and Vishwa Hindu Parishad have decided to play police and monitor who enters these gatherings. And even ministers have now raised concerns.
A crackdown on Muslim men
The controversy erupted earlier this week in Gujarat’s Ahmedabad where members of the Bajrang Dal nabbed four Muslims at Garba venues. They allegedly beat them up and forced them to leave. Videos of Dal workers assaulting the youths went viral on social media. However, it remains unclear why they were targeted.
Hitendrasinh Rajput, the spokesperson for Gujarat VHP, carried out checks at Garba venues in the city to prevent people from other religions from participating in Navratri celebrations, reports The Times of India.
“Despite being warned four youths from another religion were spotted at the venue. Our volunteers grabbed them to prevent love jihad,” he said.
Photographing girls?
In Madhya Pradesh’s Indore, the police rounded up Muslim youths from Garba pandals in three separate incidents following complaints from Bajrang Dal. The men allegedly use fake identification cards or names to gain entry to the dance events.
According to a Bajrang Dal activist, the youths at one pandal were trying to take photographs and videos of girls at the gathering.
Tannu Sharma, the Indore Bajrang Dal coordinator, told ThePrint that if the police had not intervened the matters would escalate. “There is a slogan that’s become popular in Madhya Pradesh these days – pehle rokenge, phir tokenge aur uske baad thokenge.”
In Madhya Pradesh, the government has asked Garba organisers to check the identity cards of people before allowing them entry into the dance pandals. Representational picture/AFP
Putting tilaks, checking ID cards
In both Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh, Dal and VHP members are keeping an eye on who is permitted to participate in the Garba celebrations. At many venues, Muslims have been refused entry because of allegedly luring young Hindu women.
In one of the venues in Ahmedabad, Hindu men holding placards displaying messages against “love jihad” were spotted. They were also seen applying tilak on the foreheads of male revellers to ensure that no man from the minority community enters the pandal.
Activists of fringe right-wing groups have demanded that the identity cards of those entering Garba celebrations should be checked so that Muslim men can be kept away. They have also roped in the Hotel and Restaurant Association of Western India, urging them to refuse entry to Muslim men accompanying Hindu women and warning them that they would face consequences if they did not oblige, reports News18.
In Maharashtra’s Nagpur, the VHP called for mandatory Aadhar card checking before entry into pandals. This the VHP Nagpur claimed again was a bid to stop “love jihad”.
The politics of it all
In Madhya Pradesh, the government has asked Garba organisers to check the identity cards of people before allowing them entry into the dance pandals, days after a state minister claimed such events had become a means of “love jihad”.
“Navratri, the festival of worship of Maa Durga, is the centre of our faith. In a bid to maintain peace and harmony on such a holy occasion, the organisers have been instructed to provide an entry in the Garba events only after checking the ID cards,” state Home Minister Narottam Mishra said.
The move comes days after MP Culture Minister Usha Thakur suggested that entry into Garba venues should be allowed only after checking identification to prevent “love jihad”. “The Garba organisers are now… No one (should be allowed) without identity cards. This is advice for all. Garbas had become a means of love jihad,” she had said.
Bhopal Lok Sabha MP Pragya Singh Thakur encouraged the ban on the minority community from the festivities. “Muslims should not be allowed into Garba pandals. Also, shops owned by Muslims around Garba pandals should be shut down,” she demanded on Wednesday.
The Congress has hit out at the Bharatiya Janata Party in Madhya Pradesh. According to India Today, party spokesperson KK Mishra said, “On the one hand, the RSS chief goes to a mosque and meets the imam and the state BJP president halts his speech at Pandhurna on hearing the azaan, and on the other, their followers are raising communal demands over Garba. Why is the BJP trying to polarise society in MP?”
With inputs from agencies
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