In UP, community bans mobiles for girls to fight ‘love jihad’

TNN

Agra, Sep 02, 2014: An influential committee of vaishyas in Uttar Pradesh has asked school girls from the community to stop using cell phones to save themselves from falling prey to "love jihad". 

 

In what is perhaps a first for an urban association with such reach and influence, the Akhil Bharitiya Vaishya Ekta Parishad (ABVEP), a committee of vaishyas (mostly traders by caste), has decided to ban the use of mobile phones by school-going girls and teenagers, staring with Agra. 

 

At a meeting of traders and industry welfare associations in the city, attended by more than thousand participants including Union minister for micro, small and medium enterprises, Kalraj Mishra, ABEVP national president Sumant Gupta said the move to ban cellphones for the community’s girls was needed as the Samajwadi Party government in the state offered "special privileges to a particular community", leaving other communities vulnerable. 

 

This is perhaps the first time such a move is being discussed by an urban body — unlike khaps — with relatively wealthy members. The caste group hopes to keep girls up to Class XII free of mobile phones, and thus less vulnerable to the lures of men from a particular community.

 

 

Gupta contended that electronic gadgets and the internet were ruining the careers and lives of young people. "Such things (mobiles, internet) lead young minds to fall in the "love jihad" trap. We are saddened and alarmed by the rising numbers of such cases in the state, especially when vaishya girls are involved. We have no option but to take precautions," Gupta said. 

 

Outlining the ABEVP’s plan, Gupta said his organization would form units of youth and women across the state, drawn from the vaishya caste, to counsel teenagers against using mobile phones. 

 

"We will convince them politely, with love. There will be no pressure or force. Karate training will be given to girls so they can protect themselves from anti-social elements and love jihadis," Gupta said.

 

 

Reacting to Gupta’s comments, SSP Shalabh Mathur said the term "love jihad" had been coined only to create fear and divide society along communal lines. 

 

Zishan Ahmed, a post-graduate student at Baba Saheb Bheemrao Ambedkar University, reacted with dismay. "These diktats are bewildering and humiliating for youngsters of both communities," he said. 

 

Surendra Sharma, a city-based social activist, wasn’t too pleased either. "The level of distrust between the two communities is more and more evident. This is happening because those who polarized people before the Lok Sabha elections now enjoy ministerial posts in state and Union cabinets," he said.