An Open Letter to Yogi Adityanath

A Yogi is supposed to be a holy person, one who practises Yoga. You would expect the same of Adityanath, a Yogi. However, the statements being made by him seem to give and idea that he is just continuing the work of Amit Shah, an accused criminal, who has been made president of the BJP. Gives you an idea of the party that is the BJP.

The following open letter has been written by Mohd. Asim, a Senior News Editor of NDTV.

Yogi ji, Namaskar

I write to you as a concerned citizen of this multi-religious, multi-cultural, secular democracy called Bharat. As I gather from an undated video of yours that has surfaced in the last couple of days, and then an interview on NDTV, you are very agitated about the alleged coerced conversions of Hindu girls by Muslim men. If what you say is true, I am equally concerned and disturbed.

As  you are an honourable MP, you must be aware that  our constitution  does not allow any form of coercion in religious matters. So whoever indulges in any such acts of forcing a citizen of this country into converting to some other faith -- Islam, Hinduism, Christianity, Sikhism, Buddhism etc -- has to face the full force of law. And Yogi ji, we have seen in two recent cases in Meerut and Ranchi (and I believe you are particularly agitated about these two cases), the law does catch up with the accused. In both cases, the wrong-doers, or the 'Love Jihadists" as you would arguably like to call them, have been arrested, and the law will deal with them accordingly. But the law also doesn't stop anyone from voluntarily accepting or rejecting a faith.

Yogi ji, I would respectfully submit that you exhorting people to convert 100 Muslim girls for every 1 Hindu girl who has been converted to Islam, is,  to put it mildly, majoritarian venom. You were propagating mob justice in the undated video that has surfaced online (you say it appears to be a cut-and-paste job of a rally you held in Azamgarh in 2007). You said on Wednesday in an NDTV interview that you were only urging people to accept 100s who come to your fold voluntarily. So I heard your speech again. Sorry, it doesn't sound like you mean "voluntary ghar wapasi". It's a plain threat and in as many words. And you did not stop there, Yogi ji. 'If they kill 1 Hindu, we will kill..." you declared to the supporters' chorus of "100".

Imagine a Muslim leader making such a speech. Would you have accepted any explanation for that? Not that there can be an acceptable one for those sort of remarks by anyone. So to my mind, the speech defines your ideology, personality and your nefarious designs to sow seeds of discord among communities and reap a political harvest. And it's not just a coincidence that you will be a star campaigner for the BJP in the upcoming bypolls in Uttar Pradesh.

Now, let's come to your pet peeve:  "Love Jihad". You said in the NDTV interview that it's a grand, global conspiracy of Muslims to convert Hindu girls to Islam through love. "ISI is running packages for love jihad in Western UP" you declared in that interview. My first instinct is to just laugh it off. But you and your ilk have been raising this bogey for at least a decade.

You would remember Yogi ji, Rahul Gandhi had made a similar outlandish statement last year in his election speech that ISI is recruiting young Muslim men whose families were affected by the Muzaffarnagar riots. Your party rightly demanded answers and proof from the Congress Vice President. Now, may I also ask you, what proof do you have of the "ISI package" and in general about this phenomenon called "Love Jihad"?
 
I would like to take you back to Karnataka in 2009.  Your party was in power and  many from your extended 'parivaar' had raised the same bogey of "Love Jihad" that you are today raising in UP. The BJP state government asked the  CID to probe this "grand conspiracy" against Hindu women. That CID enquiry concluded that there was no evidence of any "Love Jihad" being waged by Muslims. There were  some instances of inter-faith affairs and marriages, which is perfectly understandable in  a multi-religious society like ours. Now, that was the finding of a police inquiry under a BJP government, so Yogi ji, just think twice before dismissing it.

I have a proposal. Why don't you ask the central government and Home Minister to appoint a commission to probe your "fears"  (I would say propaganda, but never mind). Home Minister Rajnath Singh is a former UP Chief Minister and I am sure he will share your concerns about Hindu women facing this "threat". After all, if some organisation or individuals are upto something as nasty as you allege, we as a country must join hands to fight their evil designs. Otherwise, we deserve to carry on with our normal lives and occasional inter-faith love affairs and marriages.

But Yogi ji, you don't seem interested in putting a lid on the issue. You just want to keep the myth of "Love Jihad" to sustain itself so that you can resurrect it as it when it suits your and your party's electoral ends. And I don't think that it even strikes you that with this "100 for 1" war-cry, you are reducing women of this country -- both Hindu and Muslim -- to mere trophies to be won.

In the end, Yogi ji do use your weight in your party and government to get a time-bound, independent probe instituted into this issue. Till then, please don't debase the Constitution, the law of the land and your seat in the temple of democracy.

This country deserves better than communal xenophobia of all shades and kind.

With Love

Mohd Asim
Senior News Editor, NDTV 24X7