New Delhi, Mar 9 (PTI) A new book seeks to offer facts to counter what the authors claim as "viral falsehoods" like love jihad.
In "Love Jihad and Other Fictions: Simple Facts to Counter Viral Falsehoods", they interrogate some "theories that are part of the landscape of WhatsApp chats and social media feeds" of millions of Indians every day.
Authors Sreenivasan Jain, Mariyam Alavi and Supriya Sharma term love jihad, Muslim appeasement and forced conversions as "conspiracy theories" that are now driving everyday conversations in India.
They assert they "filed Right to Information requests, looked up government records, searched through parliamentary questions, contacted leaders of the BJP and Sangh Parivar, read up academic research, and did on-the-ground reportage" in compiling the book, published by Aleph.
"…We have chosen to turn our focus to a set of viral claims seemingly landing from nowhere in the WhatsApp chats and social media feeds of millions of Indians every day. Their proliferation signals a bizarre new normal, in which Shah Rukh Khan can be accused of 'population jihad' and Aamir Khan of 'love jihad', only because they are Muslim," the authors say.
They, however, add that these conspiracy theories aren't new.
"They have lurked in the shadows of India's public square for decades. But they have now taken centre stage. Carried on the wings of social media, they operate in insidious ways," they write.
The book first examines love jihad, starting with the first known case of it. The authors investigate arguably the only definitive list of love jihad cases.
They then touch upon 'population jihad' - a claim that Muslims are waging a holy war by producing more children.
"… Social media is where 'population jihad' is repurposed for the WhatsApp forward era. Online posts about an uncontrolled rise in Muslim population are often accompanied by pictures of large Muslim families - pictures that sometimes aren't even from India," the book says.
On forced conversions, the authors write: "Most of the conspiracy theories tackled in this book centre around fears of an Islamic takeover. But if there is one area where India's minuscule Christian population occupies an outsized space in the imagination of the Hindu Right, it is in the realm of religious conversions."
The book finally examines the theory of Muslim appeasement, probing assertions like unequal availability of electricity on Diwali and Eid, the hajj subsidy, funds to madrassas, and Muslim men being able to take up to four wives.
The authors claim that the "oxygen of power" has made these conspiracy theories more potent and more impactful and the consequences have been deadly.