Asian Angle | Love jihad and Twitter hate: a dangerous new India has arrived. Just ask Foreign Minister @SushmaSwaraj
The volley of abuse suffered by India’s foreign minister in a controversy over a Hindu-Muslim marriage suggests a world where trolls are instruments of political action – and hatred is a mainstream activity
India’s Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj has faced a volley of abuse and a torrent of online trolling from supporters of her own party because of an incident related to the Hindu Right Wing’s campaign against “love jihad”.
But first, the facts:
Love jihad is a term that has only slid into common usage in India over the past three years. It refers to the Hindu Right’s contention that Muslim men are seducing Hindu women and luring them away from their faith as part of a jihad or holy war against Hindus.
India: no country for Muslims
There have been several controversies revolving around this theme, but the latest erupted when a Hindu woman complained on Twitter that an official at the Passport Office had verbally lashed out at her for marrying a Muslim. Her husband claimed that the official had asked him to convert to Hinduism for the marriage to be “accepted”.