Love jihad aimed at eradicating Hindu culture: Shiv Sena

The Shiv Sena jumped onto the bandwagon of political parties voicing their scathing opinions on 'love jihad' on Wednesday with an editorial in their mouthpiece Saamna, which said the phenomenon was part of "an international conspiracy to eradicate Hindu culture."

The editorial charged that the alleged trend of Muslim youths luring Hindu girls and converting them to Islam was part of a design by global Islamist organisations to "completely Islamise Hindustan". It also extended its support to Yogi Adityanath, the BJP MP from Gorakhpur who is spearheading the saffron party's campaign for the crucial by-polls in Uttar Pradesh and has been making incendiary comments on the 'love jihad'.

"Global muslim terror outfits have called for a jihad against India. Organisations like Lashkar-e-Taiba, SIMI, Al-Qaeda are working to ensure the complete Islamisation of Hindustan. Love jihad is a part of that," said the editorial. It alleged that Hindu girls all over the country were being lured into marriage by Muslim youth and forced to convert. "Even after such incidents, if Hindu society refuses to wake up and if governments do not take action against such jihadis as part of a national sentiment, then it will not take time for the ambitions of terrorist organisations to be fulfilled," the party claimed.

The party also noted that the BJP's main plan in the Uttar Pradesh by-elections was targeting love jihad and Adityanath was getting a rousing response. "This means that the Hindu community in states like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand is angry at such incidents and Swami Adityanath is helping them vent their feelings. Love jihad is an international conspiracy to eradicate Hindu culture," the Sena charged. Referring to Hindutva organisations, it said that it was their responsibility to save Hindu girls from such incidents.

"Mohanrao Bhagwat has opined that Hindu girls need to be explained about love jihad. The concerns voiced by him are genuine," said the editorial in Saamna, of which party president Uddhav Thackeray is the editor and Rajya Sabha MP and party hawk Sanjay Raut the executive editor.

The editorial has sparked speculation that this may be an attempt by the Sena to revive the hardcore Hindutva line before the state assembly elections, while pressurising its ally the BJP by competing for the same political space.