Hindu radicals risk sectarian tension by pushing 'love jihad' conspiracy theory
Hardline Hindus push conspiracy theory that women are being seduced by Muslim men for conversion to Islam, risking sectarian division
When a Hindu woman tearfully claimed to national media recently that she had been kidnapped, raped and forcibly converted to Islam, India's religious hardliners seized the chance to spread their "love jihad" fears.
Hardline Hindu activists, encouraged by the media attention, claimed scores of Muslim men were trying to abduct, seduce and elope with Hindu women across the country for the sole purpose of conversion.
On websites and leaflets, right-wing groups warned India's Hindu majority of the "dangers", and a senior government minister called for talks between religious leaders "to find a solution to the issue".
Last week, the woman, from northern Uttar Pradesh state, sensationally retracted her claims, saying she had in fact been pressured by her family to concoct the story.
But hardliners remain adamant that Muslims, numbering about 150 million in India, are carrying out a secret strategy to turn the secular country of 1.25 billion into their own.
"Of course the girl is being forced to give false statements," Vinod Bansal, a spokesman for the radical Vishwa Hindu Parishad outfit, said of the woman's retraction.
"Our police systems are so weak that women find it tough to open up on how they are being tortured by Muslim men," Bansal said, claiming that he knew of at least 10 "love jihad" cases in New Delhi alone.