Mangaluru, October 7: In a sting operation by investigation websites Cobrapost and Gulail has revealed how the BJP and right-wing organizations such as the VHP, RSS along with their splinter groups have used various methods such as ‘use violence, intimidation, emotional blackmail, duplicity and drugs to separate Hindu-Muslim lovers and married couples by use of force or other means by taking the name of ‘love Jihad’.
In the course of this one-year long investigation, Cobrapost and the Gulail team had met leaders and workers of the BJP, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) such as Dakshina Kannada VHP working president Jagadish Shenava, BJP MLC Ganesh Karnik from Mangaluru and former BJP member Srikar Prabhu from Mangaluru; Shiv Kumar Sharma, the founder of Krishna Sena, a religious organization; the chief of Hindu Unity Forum Ravish Tantri, BJP MP from Muzaffarnagar and minister of state for agriculture Sanjeev Kumar Balyan; BJP MLA from Thana Bhawan in Uttar Pradesh, Suresh Rana; BJP MP from Kairana in UP, Hukum Singh; BJP MLA from Sardhana, Sangeet Som; BJP’s district level leader in Muzaffarnagar Sanjay Agarwal; Umesh Mallik, who contested the Assembly election from Budhana on a BJP ticket and lost; RSS leader Omkar Singh in Muzaffarnagar; Lalit Maheshwari, VHP’s Muzaffarnagar unit head; and VHP worker Hari Shiv Prasad.
Cobrapost and Gulail.com claimed that the series of interviews brought out the following facts:
- They forcibly rescue girls who are victims of “love jihad.”
- They misuse public support for mounting pressure on police and local administration to nullify such marriages.
- They file fake rape and kidnapping cases against Muslim youth who elope with or marry Hindu women.
- They use fake documents showing girls as minor so as to implicate the Muslim boys.
- If a Hindu woman is not willing to give a statement against her Muslim lover or husband or is not willing to forsake him, they use emotional blackmail and physical force to make her fall in line.
- They even administer medicinal drugs on ‘love jihad’ victims to induce temporary amnesia to rescue them from inter-religious marriages.
- Interestingly, not a single woman, they claimed to have rescued, ever sought their help saying she was a victim of ‘love jihad’.
- They distribute inflammatory pamphlets and books to further their cause.
- They run counselling centres and Hindu helplines to brainwash Hindu women who marry outside their community into giving up on their love life and settle for the man chosen by the Hindutva Brigade.
- These counselling sessions consist of a poor depiction of the man she is in love and denigration of his religion, call to her family and community honour, instilling a sense of insecurity in the woman with regard to her future and use of threat of physical harm to both her and her lover.
Jagadish Shenava during the sting operation recalled a rescue operation in February 2014 and he confesses to slapping false cases on Muslim men and admits using mobs to build pressure on police.
Speaking to the media, Shenava said that there was no need for a sting operation for him to say the things he did and he would have openly said the same to the interviewer. We will make an organized effort to stop love Jihad. Hence as much as possible in future too, we will bring back girls who have gone away from the community. About his remarks that force was being used in such cases, he denied it and said, the word ‘force’ has been misinterpreted here and what I meant was counselling and convincing, said Shenava.
The interviewer also met BJP MLC Captain Ganesh Karnik in the party’s headquarters in Mangaluru, who claimed that the police force in the district has been infiltrated with RSS workers. “We have tried to send some of our boys into police. When I talk to students, I tell them to join the police. So when we need help there are a lot of karyakartas, RSS. Sixty percent of the young constables are our students”. This infiltration into the police force comes in handy when they need to take the law into their hands, stated Cobrapost.
Speaking to the media, Karnik said, I can openly share my thoughts about love Jihad and there is no need for sting operation. About RSS students in police force, he said, “I don’t remember exactly in what context that was asked. The interview was taken long ago and she (interviewer) told a lie that she was an ABVP activist. I said RSS workers are there in all fields. I am also an RSS worker and I stood for elections. There is no strategy, it is impossible. We were in power only for five years, and when our party (BJP) was in power in the state, all recruitments were based on merit. But I guess she might have asked something regarding Congress workers being in police force, so I might have said something about RSS workers also being there in police”.
He also denied that there was any strategy of the RSS and Sangh Parivar of using force to bring back Hindu girls. If someone who has moved away from Hinduism wants to return, we show them a way, that’s all. The interviewer had discussed about love jihad, and I had said yes, love Jihad is a major problem in the coastal area. But it is not only in Mangaluru, it is one among the many problems facing the nation”.
Srikar Prabhu, claimed that the term ‘love Jihad’ originated in Mangaluru, and then spread across nation. He also said that after ‘counselling’, if the girl is ready to come back, they help her in every way including providing legal help, but if she does not listen, they use force.
Speaking to the media, Srikar Prabhu said, “The interviewer came to me saying she was a student and needs information on love Jihad. I told her what was happening in Mangaluru”. We protect our girls, just as Muslims and Christians protect their girls. For this, there was no need for a sting operation, I would have told everything openly”, he said.
