MUMBAI: Vishva Hindu Parishad’s (VHP) latest campaign to reconvert Hindu women who married Muslim men has stirred a controversy after its magazine, Himalay Dhwani, morphed a picture of actor Kareena Kapoor Khan on its cover. The cover, which has gone viral on the internet, has Kareena’s face half covered with a veil and a caption that reads: “conversion of nationality through religious conversion.”
VHP’s campaign is designed to set a warning against ‘love jihad’, an activity under which Muslim men reportedly target young girls belonging to non-Muslim communities for conversion to Islam by feigning love.
Post her marriage to Saif Ali Khan, Kareena did not convert to Islam, but has just added ‘Khan’ to her last name. According to Rajini Thukral of Durga Vahini, the young women’s wing of the VHP, that was the reason for using her face. Thukral said, “She is a celebrity. The youth try to emulate celebrities. They think if she can do so, why not us?”
Claiming that love jihad was a serious issue, Thukral further elaborated, “If a girl gets caught in love jihad and becomes Muslim by mistake and now wants to return to her original faith, isn’t it her right?”
BJP UP vice president, Prakash Sharma claimed that Kareena can sue if she has objections to the photo that has been used.
However, a rather bewildered husband Saif Ali Khan has angrily disapproved of the whole plot saying, “It’s ridiculous and not surprising but these uneducated and bigoted ideas are the worst of India and condemning them is important.”
Strangely enough, Kareena’s upcoming film with Salman Khan, Bajrani Bhaijaan, is rumoured to revolve around the theme of love jihad. The film also stars Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Anil Kapoor.
