Love-jihad

Abstract

Love-jihad is a conspiracy theory created by the Hindu right in India, which claims that Muslim men lure Hindu girls with love, marry them and then force them to convert to Islam. Language is used in legal, procedural and media-mediated ways to frame Muslim men and Hindu women and construct the nation-state. Using work on language and propaganda, as well as critical postcolonial studies, as theoretical frameworks, this article argues that the Hindu right uses language as a weapon to cause harm to Hindu women and Muslim men, and to reinforce Hindu supremacy. A study of language used by political leaders about love-jihad offers a look at the collusion between different dimensions of discrimination. On the one hand, nationalist Hindus discriminate against Muslim men; on the other hand, the same Hindus are weakening Hindu women’s abilities to make decisions about their own lives. The article also shows that the seeds of harm that are sown with propagandist language result in the creation of anti-Muslim legislation, which also harms Hindu women.