Sep 13 2014 : The Times of India (Delhi)
My name is Khan and I am a Hindu, say many in this UP village
Ishita Mishra
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Agra
TNN
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If there is one place in India that just doesn’t get the idea of ‘Love jihad’, it is Khera Sadhan in Agra. And that’s because of its peculiar history. During the rule of Aurangzeb (1658-1707), villagers there were asked to either convert to Islam or leave their homes. Faced with such a threat, almost all of them changed their religion then. After Independence, a group of local leaders exhorted the townsfolk to go back to Hinduism. Some did, others didn’t. But religion since then hasn’t mattered to the people here.“Why should it?” asks Vikram Singh, a Thakur in the village of about 10,000 roughly 50 km away from Agra. “That’s why I don’t understand this ‘love-jihad’ nonsense.
My mother Khushnuma is a Muslim, my father Kamlesh Singh a Thakur. My sister Sita is married to Inzamam and my wife Shabana is thinking of naming my newborn Santosh.” The tolerance of each other’s faith and an inherent secularism that has to be seen to be believed has endured. Today in Khera Sadhan, it is common to have a family of four brothers with two of them Hindu, two Muslim. Or have a husband who doesn’t care about the religion of his wife, or her children for that matter. Here, Muslims worship in temples and Hindus go to the dargah. Eid and Diwali are both sacrosanct.
Ask 55-year-old Shaukat Ali and he will tell you that he recently arranged for his youngest brother Raju Singh to marry Lajo, daughter of Sunil Thakur and Reshma.
The wedding ceremony will be attended by Shaukat’s brothers Rizwan Ali and Kishan Singh. The nikah will be held at a temple.
“We are amazed when we hear stories of people fighting about inter-faith unions,” says Salim Thakur, a Geeta and Quran by his bedside.
“My neighbour and first cousin Love Kush Singh has been offering Eid prayers in the village mosque for as long as I can remember.” Not all, though, are happy. Some say those in nearby villages make fun of them for being neither here nor there. “They say we are confused and ride two boats at the same time,” says a villager Karim Singh.
What is `love jihad', asks home minister
At a time when the issue of `love jihad' has emerged as a major polarizing factor in Uttar Pradesh, Union home minister Rajnath Singh chose to steer clear of the debate.
“What is love jihad?“ he asked reporters on Friday, feigning ignorance about the issue that ended up as a campaign tool in the run-up to the September 13 bypolls to 10 assembly constituencies in the state. The smile on Singh's lips, as he spoke, suggested that his silence on `love-jihad' was not unintentional.
Even after the reporters referred to some statements by BJP leaders asking Hindu girls to stay away from Muslims to draw his reaction on “love-jihad“, all Singh said was that “he needed to understand its definition“.
My mother Khushnuma is a Muslim, my father Kamlesh Singh a Thakur. My sister Sita is married to Inzamam and my wife Shabana is thinking of naming my newborn Santosh.” The tolerance of each other’s faith and an inherent secularism that has to be seen to be believed has endured. Today in Khera Sadhan, it is common to have a family of four brothers with two of them Hindu, two Muslim. Or have a husband who doesn’t care about the religion of his wife, or her children for that matter. Here, Muslims worship in temples and Hindus go to the dargah. Eid and Diwali are both sacrosanct.
Ask 55-year-old Shaukat Ali and he will tell you that he recently arranged for his youngest brother Raju Singh to marry Lajo, daughter of Sunil Thakur and Reshma.
The wedding ceremony will be attended by Shaukat’s brothers Rizwan Ali and Kishan Singh. The nikah will be held at a temple.
“We are amazed when we hear stories of people fighting about inter-faith unions,” says Salim Thakur, a Geeta and Quran by his bedside.
“My neighbour and first cousin Love Kush Singh has been offering Eid prayers in the village mosque for as long as I can remember.” Not all, though, are happy. Some say those in nearby villages make fun of them for being neither here nor there. “They say we are confused and ride two boats at the same time,” says a villager Karim Singh.
What is `love jihad', asks home minister
At a time when the issue of `love jihad' has emerged as a major polarizing factor in Uttar Pradesh, Union home minister Rajnath Singh chose to steer clear of the debate.
“What is love jihad?“ he asked reporters on Friday, feigning ignorance about the issue that ended up as a campaign tool in the run-up to the September 13 bypolls to 10 assembly constituencies in the state. The smile on Singh's lips, as he spoke, suggested that his silence on `love-jihad' was not unintentional.
Even after the reporters referred to some statements by BJP leaders asking Hindu girls to stay away from Muslims to draw his reaction on “love-jihad“, all Singh said was that “he needed to understand its definition“.
