Love, lies & damned lies

Love Jihad And Other Fictions, subtitled ‘Simple Facts To Counter Viral Falsehoods’, is a straightforward text. It delivers facts — hard-boiled ones — objectively, sharply and honestly. The title is indication enough of its terrain. It engages with a variety of ‘hot news’ issues that have become a staple of the mighty rightward push that has been at the centre of our national politics since 2014. A variety of half-truths have aided this rightward push — all of them brought to a boil through their religious framing and the fear psychosis that these have helped to create.

All of these half-truths beg the question: What are the facts and what is the reality? To this end, there is a chapter each on ‘Love Jihad’, ‘Population Jihad’, forced conversions and Muslim appeasement in this volume.

Prosaic conclusions

The ‘Love Jihad’ chapter discusses threadbare several cases that were ‘breaking news’ in the last few years. It ‘completes’ each one of those stories that dominated headlines for a week or two and then disappeared into the abyss. The truth is underwhelming in most cases.

The alleged ‘Jihad’ isn’t true really. Family members who approach politicians to nix love affairs they disapprove of, often find themselves trapped in this ‘conspiracy theory’ angle which then turns into a juicy story for a channel that is eternally in the hunt for TRPs. Much of the imagined Jihad is really patriarchy at work which seeks to rein in women in the name of ‘honour’ and ‘family prestige’.

The ’Population Jihad’ chapter tackles the oft-repeated claim that Hindus will soon become a minority in India. Through a clear-headed presentation of facts aided by graphs, tables and infographics, the claim is put to rest. The case of Assam forms a separate section in this chapter as the tales spun about this state seem to bolster the assertion of a rapidly shrinking majority. The conclusions are all prosaic. Nothing is drastically wrong.

While in the case of ‘Love Jihad’ and ‘Population Jihad’, it is the Muslim community that is in the dock, in the conversions chapter, the claims regarding Christians are examined.

Again, the volume goes behind the sensationalist headlines that enabled the creation of this ‘forced conversion’ discourse and examines them carefully. In some of the cases involving individuals who were supposedly converted, the stories that emerge are one of domestic conflict, neglect or unhappiness, which led these individuals to seek solace in prayer in Christian groups, leading to voluntary conversion. If one were to speculate, purely as an intellectual exercise, there are likely to be cases of individuals in difficult situations also seeking solace in the various Hindu sects (often with a charismatic guru/founder at the helm). Since there is no ‘conversion’ happening there, those stories are unlikely to surface. Could these cases be viewed in a similar light, therefore?

Scare-mongering claims

The final chapter on Muslim appeasement chooses to tackle a variety of issues — the Haj subsidy, the Uniform Civil Code and the claims that the Manmohan Singh government and the Samajwadi Party government in UP skewed the distribution of resources towards the Muslims. Facts are presented, still more facts are marshalled and yet more facts are brought to light to discuss all of these issues. At the end of it, the half-truths are all quietly collected and cast into the dustbin.

The conclusion at the end of the read: None of the scare-mongering claims are true. One just has to accept the truth of it based on the arguments presented. Another conclusion: A little knowledge/learning is a dangerous thing. Cherry-picking statistics or utterances to skew the narrative seems to be how the misinformation minions who are tapping away on their mobiles even as you read this, operate.

The misinformation then spirals into an emotional narrative that surges forward on the waves of fear and insecurity it generates. This volume is most definitely an antidote to the falsehoods that circulate on that dangerous beast, ‘WhatsApp University’. Of course, the book has to be read and digested. It can’t be forwarded. That is its greatest strength. To many in the nation we inhabit today, that may be seen as its greatest weakness.

But are we willing to forge ahead despite this handicap? Can we do this again and again? How committed are we to the truth? These are the personal questions that this book could engender. Yes, the road ahead is uphill all the way. To counter emotion with fact is difficult indeed. Yet, it must be done; for to give up is the coward’s way. To invoke Tagore, ‘If they answer not your call, walk alone.’ Can you?