Love Jihad snowballs into another controversy; Muslim vs Hindu male virility compared

The Tanishq controversy refuses to let go, having snowballed into several threads and conversations; some good, some sad and some really ugly. But if it's happening even in a fractional section of the social media, it's a part of the social scape of the nation.

It doesn't take long for a post, mentioning how the 'virile' Muslim male is a recurrent part of the Hindu nationalist discourse, to go viral. It further says, propagandists of Hindutva imagine that Muslims were able to invade and rule over India because the Hindu male was weak. Therefore Hindus need to learn the art of weaponry, develop militaristic masculinity to compete with Muslims

One of the most prominent ideologue of Hidutva, Golwalker wrote that Bharatmata needs young intelligent, dedicated and virile masculine men. Since Hindus don't eat meat so they must undergo rigorous physical training to be able to compete with their Muslim counterparts. The stereotypes go back to colonial era and as per the discourses, Muslim regularly violated Hindu women and symbolically they violated Bharat Mata. That immediately brings us to present-day concept of Love Jihad.

Love jihad spirals into another controversy

None of the threads, posts and dialogues are new, uncomfortable as they might be, including few excerpts from the book Love Jihadis: An open-minded Journey into the heart of Western Uttar Pradesh by Mihir Srivastava and Raul Irani.

The book gives a peep into the workings of Meerut Godwoman Chetna Devi and how she is trying to save Hindu women from 'virile' and 'sensuous' Muslim men.

Chetna Devi predicts that by year 2030, Muslims in the nation will outnumber Hindus in the country since they "reproduce like pests." Hindus will be hunted down in their country and to ensure that does not happen, she wants women and children to take up arms and train them in weaponry. Heading the Meerut-based Akhand Hindustan Morcha, Chetna Devi is known in her area for providing services to Hindu families to help 'rescue' their daughters from the clutches of 'virile' Muslim men. One of her great concerns is Love Jihad (wherein the propaganda says the Muslim men entice Hindu women to marry them.)

Hindus were not weak, many hit back with the statement, adding how to it's all Islam and their followers. "When Islam originated from sanatan dharma it needed to be radical so as to grow and flourish and this is the idea behind putting so much hate for sanatan dharma and where it originates from.

The history will somehow have references leading to explanations acceptable to both sides but currently, we need historians to put a secular spin on things and end the uncomfortable dialogue.