NEW DELHI: The Akhil Bharatiya Hindu Mahasabha has written a letter to UPSC topper Tina Dabi’s parents, after news emerged that Dabi was set to marry second rank holder, Athar Aamir-ul Shafi Khan. The Mahasabha, in the letter, asked Dabi’s parents to prevent the marriage or ensure Khan’s conversion to Hinduism.
"This decision of your family will promote love jihad and thus the wedding should not take place at any cost. If the couple is still willing to tie the knot, then ghar-wapsi of Khan should be done and a wedding should take place only after he agrees to get converted. Our members will help you in his re-conversion or ghar wapsi," states the letter penned by Munna Kumar Sharma, the outfit's national general secretary.
"All of us were very happy after the success Tina achieved when she topped the UPSC 2015 exam. But her decision to marry Khan has come as a shock and all of us are very sad to know this. This is to inform you that Muslims are promoting 'love jihad' on a high level wherein they make Hindu girls fall in love with them, convert them to Muslim religion and marry them. But if marrying each other is important for both of them, then we suggest that Khan's ghar wapsi be done." the letter continues.
Dabi and Khan, who have been dating for a few months now and publicly announced their engagement, have not commented on the Mahasabha’s letter. (Side note, Dabi is a Dalit and Khan a Kashmiri Muslim). Dabi, however, had posted to her Facebook page that "as any freethinking independent woman, I am entitled to certain choices. I am very happy with my choice and so is Aamir. Our parents are happy too. But there will always be those elements, that small minority who will always pass negative comments about dating someone from another religion."
The objection to Dabi’s marriage on religious grounds, alleging ‘love Jihad’, comes from the same Hindutva philosophy that champions the imposition of a Uniform Civil Code in India. The hypocrisy is not lost on me. The whole UCC controversy was recently in headlines. In fact, just today -- while the Mahasabha was probably still mulling over its ‘Love Jihad’ letter -- the RSS said that India needs to free itself from the shackles of identity politics to make the Uniform Civil Code a reality.
"To ensure freedom, equality and justice, about which our Constitution professes, uniform civil code should be ensured. But unfortunately, every time when this topic comes up for discussion, it becomes an issue of identity politics," Arun Kumar, Akhil Bharathiya Saha Samparka Pramukh of the RSS said. "This issue of identity politics was cultivated by Britishers...and carried on by our politicians...every time when the discussions start, our politicians come to this identity politics. Basically, this issue has become a victim of identity politics,” he added. Arguing that without the UCC "our society will never be one,” Kumar said that “it will be segregated to so many parts that we cannot remain as one." "If we want to remain as an integrated nation, we should come out of this identity politics.”
Funny how the Hindutva brigade is so vocal and determined about the necessity to implement the UCC to “remove identity politics” and “integrate the nation” on one hand, and able to oppose marriages between two consenting Indian adults on the basis of that very same “identity politics” on the other.