How Hindutva conspiracy theories are shaping the law of the land

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Vineet Bhalla

The Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled Uttar Pradesh government is set to issue  two new ordinances to crack down on alleged incidents of spitting and other unhygienic activities in the handling of food.

The Prevention of False and Anti-Harmony Activities and Spitting Prohibition Ordinance, 2024, and the Uttar Pradesh Prevention of Contamination in Food (Consumer Right to Know) Ordinance, 2024, will reportedly provide strict penalties against those found to be handling food in an unsanitary manner and provide consumers the right to transparency regarding the preparation and handling of their food.

This comes closely in the heels of directions by the state government last month to food establishments to mandatorily display the names of their owners and staff.

On the face of it, these measures may seem reasonable. However, they are driven by the Hindutva  “thook jihad”  conspiracy theory which maintains that Muslim vendors are intentionally spitting into  dishes served to Hindu customers.

These claims have been fuelled by videos purportedly showing Muslim men spitting into food. Most of these videos turn out to be fake or wrongly dated.

The actual intention of such laws is to enable Hindutva-include consumers to economically boycott Muslim eateries and businesses.

In July, legal experts  pointed out that a police directive in Uttar Pradesh’s Muzaffarnagar district asking eateries along the Kanwar Yatra pilgrimage route to display the names of their owners and staff was unconstitutional. The order was eventually stayed by the Supreme Court.

Even then, the directions led to the temporary closure of Muslim-run eateries and Muslim staff at eateries being forced to go on leave, a move that also hurt Hindu-run eateries with Muslim staff and the Hindu staff working at the Muslim-run eateries.
Uttar Pradesh has emerged as a leader in legislation driven by baseless Hindutva conspiracy theories.

In 2020, it passed an ordinance titled to crack down on “love jihad”. “Love jihad” is a Hindutva conspiracy theory that claims that Muslim men are part of an organised plot to trick Hindu women into romantic relationships merely so that they can ultimately force them to convert to Islam.

The Union home ministry has told Parliament that Indian law has no provision defining such a term.
The law has made it extremely onerous for interfaith couples to marry and has led to the targeting and harassment of Muslim men in consensual relationships with Hindu women in the state.

After Uttar Pradesh, seven other BJP-ruled states – UttarakhandHimachal Pradesh, Gujarat , Haryana, Jharkhand, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh – have enacted similar laws criminalising religious conversion for the purpose of marriage. The Gujarat law was stayed by the state’s High Court in 2021.

The BJP has stoked these conspiracy theories successfully for political gain in several elections since 2014.

In February, BJP-ruled Assam repealed its Muslim marriage registration law, ostensibly to curb child marriages among Muslims in the state. This is based on the stereotype that Muslims disproportionately engage in child marriage.

However, as Scroll reported, the repeal would lead to confusion since Muslim marriages would now be registered by officers appointed under the Special Marriage Act who may not be well-versed with Muslim personal law practices.

BJP-ruled governments in Haryana, Maharashtra and Gujarat have introduced stringent anti-cattle slaughter laws that have been used by both law enforcement bodies and vigilante groups to largely target Muslims.

The judiciary has largely stood silent through all this. The Supreme Court has been seized of petitions challenging the anti-conversion laws passed by several BJP-ruled states since 2020. It last heard these petitions in April 2023 and has not listed them since.

In the face of legislation as disinformation, the judiciary must step up and strike down these laws as unconstitutional.

source : scroll

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