Interfaith marriages and relationships in Bharat are a tricky issue. Relationships between people belonging to non-Abrahamic faiths like Hindu Dharma and Abrahamic faiths like Islam and Christianity mostly don’t work. The reason is the partners belonging to Abrahamic faith mostly hound or pressurize the other to convert. This is especially prevalent in cases of Hindus marrying Muslims. One comes across numerous instances of even high-profile celebrity Hindu-Muslim weddings where the Hindu partner has no option but to convert.
Yet, conversion is just the tip of the iceberg. Systematic violence and torture inflicted on the other partner with the firm belief that since they belong to a different faith, they are “Kafir”, has been a part and parcel of Hindu-Muslim relationships. No matter how much the mainstream media or the elite woke circles try to downplay the threat of the aggressive Abrahamic proselytizer, these threats are real and tangible, already working actively to radically alter the demography of Bharat.
On one end of the spectrum, we have interfaith Bollywood celebrity weddings trying to construct an idealized narrative of love that knows no bounds and doesn’t recognize any arbitrary differences based on race, color, creed, religion, etc. On the other hand, you have middle-class Hindu girls or Hindu girls belonging to lower socio-economic strata becoming a victim of brutal love jihad. How does one reconcile these two seemingly diametrically opposite scenarios? Ironically enough, it is the high-profile celebrity Hindu- Muslim relationships that give an impetus to the love jihad industry that percolates down to the lowest common denominator of Bharat. Of course, everyone has the right to marry or date whoever they choose to. Nobody has the right to contest that. But at the same time, celebrities must understand the massive social responsibility that comes with fame. They must refrain from painting a rosy picture of Hindu-Muslim relationships and marriages. Every celebrity who whitewashes the complex religious angle of a Hindu-Muslim relationship is complicit in a way, indirectly legitimizes the gruesome love jihad industry that seeks out kafirs to eliminate in the garb of love and romance.
Big Boss fame actress Himanshi Khurana recently broke up with her boyfriend Asim Riaz over different religious beliefs. According to various media reports, Himanshi shared her final statement regarding the breakup through her social media account on X.
“This is my last & final statement to clarify dt I’m a secular person so I am not disrespecting any religion…I just chose mine. If I don’t want anyone of you to blame him for breakup then I also want no one of you to blabber against me… from my past relationship I was quiet for reason I took whole blame here I tried the same but Im sry people took it other way”, she reportedly wrote on X.
Himanshi Khurana reportedly deleted her X account a couple of hours after sharing the post. She had earlier shared a note on social media stating that she and Asim are going separate ways because of their love for their respective religious beliefs. She was then brutally trolled for her post which led her to clarify that she was not being disrespectful towards any religion.
Himanshi’s Instagram profile is still active but one cannot see any posts regarding the breakup. Perhaps, they have been deleted. While one appreciates Himanshi Khurana’s decision to prioritize love and respect for her religion over romantic love, one wonders what makes Hindu celebrities optimistic about their relationships with Muslims in the first place. This is not to demean any human being or any religion, but considering the kind of radicalization Muslims in Bharat are unfortunately undergoing at the moment, it’s at best naïve to assume that a relationship with a Muslim won’t cause any psychological and spiritual damage to the Hindu partner.
Contrary to the stereotypical perception, it’s not just Bharatiya Muslims belonging to lower strata of society who are radicalized by the likes of fundamentalist schools of Islamic thought like the Tablighi Jamat, Barelvi, Deoband, etc. Highly educated Muslim youth are equal victims of this radicalization. Speeches of radical Islamic preachers like Zakir Nayak can be easily accessed through social media platforms like youtube. In such a scenario, the radicalization amongst Bharatiya Muslims is bound to rise even more alarmingly. In such a scenario, the only sensible way to save oneself as a Hindu is by not getting into complicated romantic relationships with the followers of Islam.
The gruesome murder of Shraddha Walker by her boyfriend and live-in partner Aftab Poonawala is still fresh in people’s memory. According to recent media reports, Shraddha Walker’s father Vikas Walker gave a testimony in a Delhi court that Aftab Poonawala had himself narrated to them the gruesome tale of how he killed their daughter and chopped her into pieces.
Imagine the kind of harassment Himanshi Khurana probably had to go through over her breakup post that she decided to delete her social media accounts. For an entertainment world celebrity, deleting their social media accounts is a big deal. They won’t do it unless and until it posed a real risk to their mental health and sanity.
It’s become a routine practice on social media by the Islamists to casually issue death threats to anyone who says or writes anything critical of Islam. Many of these death threats are zealously implemented and innocent Hindus get butchered. By the same logic, a Hindu marrying a Muslim will be perennially at the mercy of the zealots. Even if their partner turns out to be non-fundamentalist, the mob mentality is so strong that they will be forever hounded and threatened by the larger Islamic community, should they refuse to convert.
Avoiding romantic liaisons is not about hatred against any community. It’s simply a practical measure aimed at saving yourself. Love is a sublime feeling and in an ideal world, it shouldn’t be held ransom to any considerations of caste, creed, religion, etc. But unfortunately, we do not live in an ideal world. Hindus cannot and should not continue to sacrifice themselves to prove they are secular.
