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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 CHENNAI 000045 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM KIRF PINR IN
SUBJECT: ALLEGED "LOVE JIHAD" HEATS RELIGIOUS TENSIONS IN SOUTH 
INDIA 
 
REF:  A) 09 Chennai 100, B) 09 Chennai 25, C) 09 Chennai 213, D) 08 
Chennai 350 
 
¶1. (U) Summary:  An alleged conspiracy of "foreign-funded" Muslim 
men attempting to seduce, marry, and convert Hindu and Christian 
women, has led to state-level investigations and generated 
widespread suspicions in South India.  The media has dubbed the 
so-called conspiracy a "Love Jihad," and top politicians in 
Karnataka and Kerala have found themselves forced to confront the 
issue publicly.  Both Hindu and Christian groups have expressed fear 
and outrage at the "plot," while Muslim groups have felt the need to 
defend their co-religionists against the conspiracy theorists. 
Ongoing police investigations in South India have cast doubt on the 
existence of a "Love Jihad", but the recurring assertion of its 
existence despite contrary evidence demonstrates the suspicion and 
intolerance that exist among some of the religious communities in 
the region.  The "Love Jihad" controversy has its origins in the 
coastal region of southern Karnataka and northern Kerala, where 
forms of religious and communal violence occur with unfortunate 
regularity (refs B, C, and D, among others).  End Summary. 
 
"Love Jihad" grabs the public's attention 
----------------------------------------- 
 
¶2. (U) The alleged "Love Jihad," (sometimes also referred to as 
"Romeo Jihad") first seized widespread media attention in South 
India in September 2009, although some argue that the phenomenon has 
been going on for years.  On September 29, 2009, Kerala's High Court 
issued an order for police to investigate the cases of two 
college-aged girls allegedly forced to convert to Islam after 
marrying Muslim men.  Stories spread of an organized plan by groups 
of Muslim men to get Hindu and Christian women to fall in love with 
them.  Reports alleged that the men were given allowances by 
unidentified (but ostensibly foreign) sources to woo the women, 
marry them, and subsequently force them to convert.  (Note: 
Arranged marriages are still the norm throughout India. 
Western-style betrothals -- known as "love marriages" in India -- 
are increasingly common in urban areas, but are still the exception. 
 End note.) 
 
¶3. (U) While the Kerala Director General of Police has since 
reported that there is no evidence of a "Love Jihad" or "Romeo 
Jihad" organization, some members of the police, politicians, and 
both Hindu and Christian religious groups continue to suspect that 
"forced conversions" (ref A) are occurring, and that the culprits 
are receiving foreign funding for their efforts. (Comment: The 
accusers, often leaders of Hindu nationalist outfits like the 
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), speak in generalities about 
foreign funding for the "Love Jihad," and fail to provide any 
credible evidence of foreign involvement. End comment.) 
 
Serial killer vs. Love Jihad 
---------------------------- 
 
¶4. (U) The issue picked up steam in the neighboring state of 
Karnataka in early October, when several Hindu nationalist, Sangh 
Parivar groups claimed that a young woman named "Anitha," missing 
since June, was a "Love Jihad" victim.  Local police cast some doubt 
on this claim when they announced on October 21 that "Anitha" had 
been the victim of a serial killer, arrested earlier that day, who 
had confessed to poisoning her and 17 other women.  According to the 
press, a police official who wanted to remain anonymous reportedly 
said that he hoped the cracking of the "Anitha" case would "put an 
end this 'Love Jihad' controversy once and for all."  An hour after 
the police announcement, however, Karnataka's High Court ordered an 
investigation into the "Love Jihad," forcing the state's police to 
continue to commit personnel and resources toward investigating the 
alleged conspiracy. 
 
True love or Love Jihad? 
----------------------- 
 
¶5. (U) The October 21 Karnataka High Court's decision to investigate 
another "Love Jihad" case, in response to a petition filed by the 
parents of a young woman who converted to Islam after marrying a 
Muslim man, further buttressed the conspiracy theory in the minds of 
many in South India.  After the marriage, the parents allege that 
the girl was confined to a madrasa and forced to study Islam.  These 
allegations of "Love Jihad" led authorities to classify the problem 
as a potential national security issue; the Karnataka High Court, 
 
CHENNAI 00000045  002 OF 003 
 
 
for example, wrote that the case had to be investigated because 
"issues of national security" were involved, including the unlawful 
trafficking of women and girls.  (Note: The woman in this case 
subsequently defended her marriage in court and said that her 
conversion was of her own free will and accused her parents of being 
"mentally unstable." End note.) 
 
Religious groups fanning the flames 
----------------------------------- 
 
¶6. (SBU) Both Hindu and Christian groups in South India are 
publicizing stories of "Love Jihad."  The Commission for Social 
Harmony and Vigilance of the Kerala Catholic Bishops Council (KCBC) 
reported that there had been 2,868 female victims of the "Love 
Jihad" in Kerala from 2006-09.  The Commission made several 
recommendations to parents through its newsletter, including a 
recommendation to monitor children's mobile phones and computers, to 
fight this "social evil." We met with Dr. Sajan K. George, National 
President of the Global Council of Indian Christians, who was 
convinced that there was a concerted effort in South India by Muslim 
men to get Christian women to fall in love with them in order to 
convert them.  He said that his organization was publicly 
tight-lipped about the incidents because it did not want to 
exacerbate religious tensions in Kerala and Karnataka, which he said 
were already high.  Dr. George said that his group found it 
necessary, however, to warn Christian parents and young girls of the 
danger posed by the "Love Jihad" so that they can be better prepared 
to resist what many call "charming" young Muslim men involved in the 
scheme. 
 
¶7. (U) The Sri Ram Sena, a Hindu extremist group responsible for a 
number of violent incidents in Karnataka, (ref C) announced plans to 
develop "education programs" for women to help them avoid being 
trapped by what it calls "nefarious Romeos."  On January 24 at a 
public rally in Mangalore, the national president of the Bajrang Dal 
(a Hindu extremist group), Prakash Sharma, reportedly told the crowd 
that "Love Jihad" was a ploy to make Hindu women servants of Muslim 
men and deprive Hindu boys of "their share of women for 
procreation." 
 
¶8. (U) More mainstream Hindu nationalist organizations have also 
fueled the fire.  The "Organiser", an official publication of the 
RSS, published an article in its January 3 edition entitled, 
"Sisters, Beware of the Stupid Love Terror!" which incorporates a 
wide range of charged, but thinly sourced, allegations.  One such 
allegation is that although police officials in Kerala have reported 
officially that they have found no evidence of an organized "Love 
Jihad," many senior police officers remain privately concerned about 
groups like "Smart Front."  According to the article, this 
organization is a Muslim group operating in Muslim institutions "to 
promote love affairs" with upper-caste Hindu and Christian women, 
particularly those "studying in professional colleges or working in 
the information technology (IT) sector." 
 
¶9. (U) These allegations have forced some in the Muslim community in 
Southern India to issue public denials of the existence of any sort 
of "Love Jihad" conspiracy.  The Muslim Central Committee of 
Karnataka's Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts have publicly 
denied that a "Love Jihad" exists and emphasized that their faith 
does not condone forced conversion.  According to press reports, 
some Muslim leaders, including Committee President K.S. Mohammed 
Masood, have alleged that accusations of a "Love Jihad" are an 
attempt by certain groups to further blacken the image of the Muslim 
community.  He emphasized that Islam allows for no concept like 
"Love Jihad" and that "forces are trying to divide Muslims and 
Hindus by coining the phase 'Love Jihad' in an attempt to 
destabilize peace in society and Muslim-Hindu unity." 
 
Statistics suggest lack of evidence for Love Jihad 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
 
¶10. (U) The media and some religious groups have been fueling the 
hysteria by making vague statements about large numbers of missing 
young women in Karnataka over the last six years, suggesting that 
these disappearances are related to the "Love Jihad."  Multiple 
Hindu extremist groups held a rally at Mangalore's district 
headquarters on October 15, alleging that over 3,000 Hindu girls 
from the region and more than 30,000 from the rest of the state had 
gone missing since the alleged launch of the "Love Jihad" in 2008, 
figures that were reportedly repeated on the websites of various 
 
CHENNAI 00000045  003 OF 003 
 
 
Hindutva organizations.  Other Hindutva-leaning groups and 
individuals have suggested the number of missing Hindu girls ranges 
from 3,000 to 4,000. 
 
¶11. (U) Police in Karnataka have attempted to shed light on the 
apparently wildly exaggerated allegations of missing women. 
Official statistics reportedly show that 404 women were reported 
missing in 2009, and that police tracked down 332 of them.  A local 
police superintendent told the press that there were only 57 women 
currently missing in his district, and that he suspected most of 
them had "committed suicide or eloped." 
 
Official report due in March 
---------------------------- 
 
¶12. (U) Karnataka's High Court granted the state's government on 
January 19 six more weeks to submit a final investigation report on 
the existence of a "Love Jihad" movement in the state.  Karnataka's 
Deputy Inspector General of Police, Malini Krishnamurthy, is heading 
the probe and has constituted a special team to investigate the 
matter, demonstrating the seriousness with which the Karnataka 
police are treating "Love Jihad" allegations.  The final report is 
expected during the first week of March. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶13. (SBU) While it may be easy for outsiders to ridicule the "Love 
Jihad" allegations, the fact that they have gained so much traction 
in the popular imagination illuminates the very real paranoia and 
social tensions that sometimes exist in relationships among Muslims, 
Hindus, and Christians in the region.  In some areas, it would be 
hugely embarrassing for Hindu parents to reveal to friends and 
relatives that their daughter has fallen for a Muslim man, and the 
hypothesized existence of a nefarious, foreign-funded organization 
that targets innocent Hindu women likely makes it easier for the 
parents to explain to themselves and others what has happened. 
 
¶14. (SBU) The "Love Jihad" brouhaha also illustrates the perceived 
threat that many Hindus in the region feel from "forced 
conversions," (ref A) and the general encroachment of "alien" 
religious forces into what they see as a Hindu religious space. 
These perceptions -- and the related tensions -- will likely 
continue regardless of the content of Karnataka's official report on 
the alleged "Love Jihad."  End Comment. 
 
SIMKIN