While the topic of ‘love jihad‘ has reared its ugly, divisive head in the social conscious of the country of late with even the judiciary taking note, it would appear that for some in the BJP establishment, having tea with someone of the opposite sex and religion is also a case of ‘love jihad’.
Following on the heels of BJP member Sakshi Maharaj who made it amply clear that the fault of rape lies with the victim and not the person who has committed the disgusting and immoral act, BJP leader Sangeeta Varshney slapped a Dalit woman for allegedly having an affair with a Muslim boy.
The lady, who represents the saffron ruling party, claimed to be passing by the area and took the girl to an ice-cream parlour. There, in full view of cameras and the media, the woman slapped the Dalit girl roundly and shamed her.
“Tere ko samajh mein nahi aataa kaun Hindu hai, kaun Musalmaan hai. Pyaar se samajhaa rahee hoon, samajh hee mein nahi aa raha (Don’t you understand who is a Hindu and who is a Muslim. I am politely making this clear, but even then it seems that you are not getting it),” Varshney is heard saying.
“People told me that the Hindu girl and a Muslim man were trying to run away. I found it to be a case of love jihad. While the people and policemen took the man to the Gandhi Park police station, I took the girl to a nearby ice cream parlour to speak to her,” she told the Indian Express.
As if that wasn’t enough, the woman actually sought to legitimise her behaviour and stated that “A Hindu girl should only be friends with Hindus.”
Not only is the statement in poor taste, it also shows Varshney’s severe lack of understanding of the fact that India is a secular republic.
She said, “Hindu hone k nate iss baat ka visesh dhyan rakhna chahiye k kam-se-kam agar kisi se dosti karo toh koi Hindu ladka ho…usse mujhe koi aitraz nahi hai (Being a Hindu, a girl should take utmost care to ensure that she is befriending only Hindu boys,I have no problems with that).”
The BJP woman leader went on to say that she would have let off the girl if the boy would have been a Hindu but she couldn’t tolerate when the girl told her that she loved the Muslim boy.
The girl who was slapped has stated that she met the boy of her own accord and that she was not a minor. However, it would appear that her consent wasn’t enough for the BJP leader to go about performing her own brand of justice.
“Who’s going to decide what level of hugging is alright and not alright? And why are we watching people hugging? Aren’t we the country that said ‘pyaar kiya toh darna kya'” Jose Covaco asked on Mirror Now’s Urban Debate.
“If it’s not in our constitution, it is not good enough for me. Our constitution is glorious, it’s living, its breathing and it’s changing every day and if your little nonsense is not in our constitution, it’s not good enough. To Sakshi Maharaj and that horrible, horrible representative of the BJP who went around slapping girls because she thinks she knows better, I hope the two of them are tossed out of our ruling party. If they’re not, then it is obvious that votes matter more than betis,” ended Faye D’Souza, Executive Editor of Mirror Now on the Urban Debate.
source Mirror Now
September 27, 2017 at 5:34 pm
The members of saffron party are becoming intolerant and violently restricting others fundamental rights