The Sangh Parivar has successfully dovetailed its concept of “love jehad” with the feudal-patriarchal prejudices of “honour” in north India. By AJOY ASHIRWAD MAHAPRASHASTA IN the first week of September, the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS), which is considered to be the moral guardian of Hindutva politics, widely circulated an email with the heading “Some Facts: Muslim Man/Hindu Woman”. The email, a long one, went on to list 73 male celebrities who were Muslim and had married Hindu women. It was not at all vituperative and provided details in a matter-of-fact manner. It even listed the names of their children, implicitly suggesting their Muslim identities. From film celebrities as old as the legendary director K. Asif and Muzaffar Ali to contemporary actors such as Shah Rukh Khan and Aamir Khan, it made a good archive of Muslim celebrities and their personal lives. A delight to the compulsive voyeur, the email does not spare even Hindustani classical artists Ustad Ali Akbar Khan and Ustad Vilayat Khan. Sample this: “Doctor/Model Aditi Govitrikar, a Maharashtrian Brahmin, married Dr Muffazal Lakdawala. They had a daughter, Kiara, and a son, Zihaan. Govitrikar participated in and won the Mrs India competition under her post-marriage name, Sarah Muffazal Lakdawala. They are now separated. Dr Muffazal is now married to Priyanka, daughter of Maj. Gen. T.K. Kaul.” In yet another not-so-implicit suggestion of the fact that Muslims can marry multiple times, it says: “Classical vocalist Ali Akbar Khan married numerous times in his life. One of his wives was Rajdulari Devi, a singer herself. Their daughter Aneesa is married to TV producer Rajeev Chaudhary. Surprisingly, Ali Akbar and his Muslim wife Zubeida gave Hindu names to their sons, namely Ashish, Dhyanesh, Amresh and Pranesh. Out of these, Ashish declared himself to be a Hindu and separated from his Muslim wife, Firoza Dehalvi. Ashish’s children are Faraz (son) and Nusrat (daughter). Dhyanesh’s daughter Sahana is married to a Hindu (Mr Gupta). Dhyanesh’s son is Shiraz Khan.” And in a direct reference to the Hindutva campaign of “love jehad”, it says: “Singer Sunidhi Chauhan, at the age of 18, eloped and married Bobby Khan, brother of choreographer Ahmed Khan. Her family never acknowledged the marriage and threatened to disown her. The couple fell apart in a year and she returned to her parents. She is now married to a Hindu.” The email was circulated at a time when the Sangh Parivar was whipping up the campaign amidst the Hindu-Muslim riots in Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh. A rumour that a Muslim boy stalked a Hindu girl was the immediate trigger for the riots, which killed more than 100 people, most of them Muslim, and displaced more than 50,000 Muslims from their villages. The Hindus, especially Jats, were of the view that Muslims either assault Hindu women or lure them to get married. In a communally charged environment, the Sangh Parivar projected the riots as the last resort to protect the honour of Hindu women.
Posted on: Sat, 23 Nov 2013 05:16:19 +0000
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