Mangaluru: For years, “love jihad”, religious conversion and alleged terrorism in madrasas have figured prominently in political speeches and public debates.
KPCC spokesperson and writer MG Hegde checked those claims against official records and has compiled his findings in a book.
Hegde’s findings are compiled in his new book, “Love Jihad Mattu Mataantara – Prachara Mattu Vastava” (Love Jihad and Religious Conversion – Propaganda and Reality), which was released in Mangaluru on Tuesday.
Speaking to Deccan Chronicle after the book release, MG Hegde said that he set out to find the answer by seeking records from police stations and government offices under the Right to Information Act.
Hegde said repeated references to “love jihad”, conversion and madrasa terrorism had created suspicion and fear between communities and, in some cases, contributed to violence.
“It is for this reason that I decided to check the official records.
I need not make any allegations against BJP or Sangh Parivar leaders. The data says everything,” he said.
The exercise covered 14 districts and around 350 sensitive police stations in Karnataka, besides the Home Department, Governor’s office seeking complaints and representations they received from individuals, organisations and elected representatives.
Narrating the efforts, Hegde said that he had spent over 14 months on collecting the information he needed for the book.
He said separate RTI applications were filed seeking details of complaints relating to “love jihad”, alleged terrorism in madrasas and religious conversion.
“While I received the information I sought in some places, in some stations they were rejected or information was declined.
I then had to file appeals and receive the information,” he said.
According to Hegde, the records obtained showed no complaints or petitions relating to “love jihad” or alleged terrorism in madrasas in the districts covered by the exercise.
“From every police station I got the reply ‘No.’ For ten years not even one case was filed in these districts.
While speeches were made by BJP and Sangh leaders, none of them filed any complaint nor gave any representation on this,” he alleged.
On “love jihad”, Hegde said the records examined by him did not establish such a network in Karnataka.
He argued that relationships involving deception, exploitation or betrayal existed as it existed anywhere in the world and could not be linked to one particular community.
“Love, sex and betrayal can happen in any community and any place in the world. It existed in the past, it exists now and will continue in the future also.
It is not confined to any one community,” he asserted.
The picture related to religious conversion too is interesting.
Hegde said the records showed 27 cases across 14 districts over a 10-year period.
He said the complaints were mostly from people who had converted or their relatives and did not point to the involvement of mainstream Christian denominations.
“These cases of conversion were by the Hindus who had converted themselves to Christianity and later tried to convert other Hindus.
It was like a chain system but the followers of some small denominations,” he added.
Hegde said the findings also raised questions over the way conversion has been discussed in relation to the Christian community as a whole.
“Why should the entire Christian community be viewed with suspicion? Why should churches be attacked or priests assaulted on the allegation that education and hospitals are being used for conversion?” he asked.
The book, he said, also looks at how political leaders have used these issues over the years and whether the allegations were backed by complaints or official records.
He named several BJP leaders who, according to him, had spoken about “love jihad”, conversion, cattle theft and alleged terrorism in madrasas and questioned whether they had submitted complaints or representations to the authorities when the BJP was in power.
Hegde also referred to BJP leaders including MLAs Yashpal Suvarna and V Sunil Kumar, Vedavyas Kamath, Harish Poonja, Bharath Shetty, Basangouda Patil Yatnal, R Ashoka, Minister Shobha Karandlaje, former Minister Anant Kumar Hegde, questioning whether they had submitted complaints or official representations on the issues they had raised publicly.
“From the Home Department I got the reply that they did not,” he said.
Hegde said the purpose of the exercise was to ask a basic question: what official evidence exists behind repeated public allegations?
“If someone speaks about ‘love jihad’ or conversion 100 times, we want to know on the basis of which case they are making the allegation,” he said.
He said he is also contemplating taking the issue before the High Court.
Hegde called for greater scrutiny of speeches and social media posts on sensitive communal issues, saying those making such claims should be able to substantiate them with specific cases.
“Without anything concrete, they fire in the air. But it has hit society,” he said.
He said the book contains about 10 years of data collected and analysed during the exercise and was an attempt to separate what he described as political propaganda from what is actually reflected in official records.
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