Love Jihad and the Governance of Gender and Intimacy in Hindu Nationalist Statecraft

• Published in: Religions (Basel, Switzerland ) Vol. 12; no. 12; p. 1068
• Main Authors: Nielsen, Kenneth Bo, Nilsen, Alf Gunvald
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basel MDPI AG 01.12.2021
• Subjects: authoritarian populism; Gender; gender and intimacy; Gender relations; Hindu nationalist statecraft; Hinduism; Hindus; Ideology; Islam; law; Legislation; love jihad; Muslims; Nationalism; Political activism; Religion; State laws; India

What role does the Islamophobic theory of “love jihad” play in the politics of Hindu nationalist statecraft—the legal codification of Hindu nationalist ideology—in India today? In this article, we address this question through a critical analysis of how the idea of “love jihad” relate to both (a) a...