‘Love Jihad’ gets Kerala Hindu groups moving
10/09/2012 23:45:51  http://newindianexpress.com/thesundaystandard/article603259.ece?service=print

Since 2009, 2,195 Hindu women and 492 Christian women were converted to Islam, but the number of young women who got converted to Christianity and Hinduism stands at 79 and two respectively.

Forced conversion of women to Islam has a new name in Kerala and to fight this, two leading Hindu community organisations have joined hands.

The concept of ‘Love Jihad has pushed the Hindu community organisations out of their comfort zone and they are now hell-bent on stopping this. The Nair Service Society (NSS) and the Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana (SNDP) Yogam are two such organisations that recently joined hands. NSS general secretary G Sukumaran Nair and SNDP Yogam general secretary Vellappally Natesan signed a policy draft containing a four-point agenda.

It declared that in religious, communal and political issues, both organisations should follow the existing policies of their own. On issues related to the protection of the rights of the majority communities, they would take a united stand. The document said, “The political parties in the state had been denying the rights of the majority communities. The neglect towards them has increased presently. The rulers have surrendered before the minority communities which are part of the government. The lack of unity of the majority communities was exploited by the minority communities and the rulers.”

Both the communities would soon come out with a joint statement against forced religious conversions after a comprehensive analysis. While the NSS has entrusted its human resource department with the task, the SNDP has launched awareness campaigns through its yogams against activities of fundamentalist religious organisations, which indulge in forced conversions.

The leadership of both the communities is equally anxious about the rate of conversions of Hindu women to Islam during the last five years. According to the figures presented by Chief Minister Oommen Chandy in the Assembly in the last session, a total of 7,713 persons were converted to Islam since 2006 as against 2,803 conversions to Hinduism.

However, since 2009, as many as 2,195 young Hindu women and 492 young Christian women were converted to Islam. However, the number of young women who got converted to Christianity and Hinduism stands at 79 and two respectively.

SNDP general secretary Vellapally Natesan said, “The the alarming rate of forced religious conversions in the state is certainly a matter of concern. The statistics of conversions of Hindu women to Islam necessitates unification of all Hindu community organisations in the state,” he said.