There is no hiding from the fact that some youths from the Muslim community are involved in the heinous practice of Love Jihad, an alleged effort made by them only to target beautiful and rich women belonging to non-Muslim communities for religious conversion to Islam by ‘fake love’.
This infamous concept first came to light in India in the year 2009 with alleged conversions in Kerala and Karnataka. Slowly, it started to spread across all states of India.
The year 2020 has seen many cases of Grooming Jihad. During the course of the year, many Hindu girls became victims of Love Jihad, be it Priya of Meerut or Nikita of Faridabad. Several cases of love jihad emerged in 2020 which exposed hatred against Hinduism.
The government passed a bill in view of the rising incidents of love jihad in 2020. The Unlawful Conversion bill has provisions that can land offenders in jail for up to five years.
Meanwhile, netizens have launched a scathing attack on a Bollywood movie named Atrangi Re for promoting Love Jihad’ and insulting Hindu Gods. In India, all Gods of different religions are treated with supreme respect and insulting or hurting one’s religious idol can create massive outrage on the internet and it would invite the wrath of millions of devotees.
Atrangi Re features Dhanush, Sara Ali Khan and Akshay Kumar in main roles. The movie received its fair share of good reviews from critics and audiences after its release. While the film received a majority of the positive reviews so far, there is a section of the fans who claim that the movie has ‘hurt their religious sentiments.
SPOILER ALERT!
Talking about one of the subplots of the film, it is about the love story between a Muslim guy and a Hindu girl. The two end up becoming the victim of honour killing.
Meanwhile, there is also a sequence where Sara’s character describes the inter-religious love story and praises it. In another scene, her character is seen having a fight with her family and refers to Lord Hanuman and Lord Shiva.
Upon watching the film, #BoycottAtrangiRe started trending on social media as netizens accused it of promoting love jihad and disrespecting Hindu gods.
One user tweeted, “#Boycott_Atrangi_Re In a scene in the film, abusive language has been used in the name of Hindu deities #Shiva and #Hanumanji”.
Another user tweeted, “BOYCOTT Bollywood for REPEATEDLY Denigrating Hindu Gods. These actors & filmmakers of Atrangi Re wouldn’t see the next sunrise if these dialogues were replaced with Gods of МusIins or Siкhs. Why Hindu religion is targetted always?? #Boycott_Atrangi_Re #BoycottBollywood”.
One tweet read, “It is very surprising that films that promote anti-Hindu and love jihad are immediately passed by the censors, but when a film counters it, it stops its release. #Boycott_Atrangi_Re”.
Another tweet read: “Regardless of the intensity of protests from Hindu groups of Hinduphobic films, the government takes no action whatsoever Due to the absence of binding regulations,OTT platforms are showing web series that depict Hinduphobic and anti-national content.”
“BOYCOTT Bollywood for REPEATEDLY Denigrating Hindu Gods. These actors & film makers of Atrangi Re wouldnt see the next sunrise if these dialogues were replaced with Gods of МusIins or Siкhs. Why Hindu religion is targetted always??,” another user wrote.