New Delhi : The controversy surrounding ‘Love Jihad’ refuses to die down as the latest issue of a Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) magazine ‘Himalaya Dhwani’ has brought up the subject on its cover using a morphed face of actor Kareena Kapoor half covered with a ‘burqa’.
The pictures of Kapoor, who married actor Saif Ali Khan, have gone viral with many people raising eyebrows over the raging row over religious conversions and reconversions and demanding action against the magazine.
VHP, however, claimed that the magazine brought out by its Himachal unit was for internal circulation and had tried to highlight the issue as also religious conversions in Himachal Pradesh.
Congress criticised the use of Kareena’s picture, describing it as an assault on her privacy and sought action against the magazine.
The magazine’s cover story also reads, ‘Dharmantaran se rashtraantaran’ meaning ‘change of religion leads to change of nation’ in the cover article that has highlighted the issue of religious conversions of Hindu women addressed as ‘love jihad’.
Rajni Thukral, one of the magazine editors, who is also the coordinator of Durga Vahini, the women’s youth wing of VHP for the region, defended the article and Kapoor’s picture.
“The issue of ‘love jihad’ started in the country some 12 to 15 years ago and there have been 4,000 cases registered on how Muslim boys allegedly enticed Hindu girls in love and later treated them badly.
“In Himachal, such incidents have happened and 16 such cases have come to light last year. We have tried to highlight the issue to create public awareness,” she said.
Defending the use of Kareena’s morphed picture and her case to highlight the issue, she said, “Kareena is an icon and role model. Youth try to emulate and follow her.”
Thukral questioned that if they were in love, why did she have to convert and why Saif did not convert to Hinduism.
The opposition slammed the use of Kareena’s face on the magazine cover, with Congress leader Manish Tiwari saying it was an assault on their privacy and the magazine should be sued.
“Nobody has the right to trifle with anybody’s privacy and use anybody’s picture without their permission for what is possibly the most outrageous, ridiculous, retrogressive and medieval tendency you have seen manifest itself in the past six months,” he said.
Tiwari also said it was high time the liberals stood up in the country so that such tendencies were curbed in society.
However, VHP’s joint general secretary Surendra Jain told PTI that the magazine was for internal circulation of the outfit in the state.
“How girls are lured by ‘Jihadis’ has been highlighted through the article. It also highlights the issue of Bangladeshi infiltrators coming into Himachal Pradesh and causing law and order and communal violence issues,” he said.
BJP spokesperson Nalin Kohli said the issue of religious conversions was not something new and that if there were conversions taking place, people had the right to return.
“That right is there with every individual. You cannot challenge that right,” he said, adding that the government had said that there should be a law on conversions and thus these charges did not hold ground against the government or the BJP and the opposition was trying to take political mileage out of the issue.
“Kareena Is An Icon And Role Model. Youth Try To Emulate And Follow Her.”
– Rajni Thukral, Editor Of Himalaya Dhwani
