Aligarh, Sep 10: Even as the communal outfits have launched a nationwide propaganda to divide nation on communal lines with the help of 'love jihad' hoax, a bunch of young Muslim men belonging to a socio-religious organisation have decided to bridge the gap between communities.
The organisation says it will ask all its 20,000 members to take part in the plan that will take off early next month, in time for the festive season. They will also focus on and talk about how the term 'love jihad' is being used by "certain vested interests" to bring the two communities to war.
Senior members of the organisation said it was plain politics to give "an emotion a criminal and communal color". Nazeerul Islam, president of SIO, West UP, said, "We will try to tackle the conspiracy theories around the so-called 'love jihad' by spreading awareness about shared Hindu-Muslim legacy, the need to have dialogues with people and what we feel is the criminalization of love."
General Secretary of SIO in the Aligarh AMU unit, Abdullah Azzam, added "We have to think of increasing interaction between the two communities. We are also researching about court verdicts on the subject and how the issue of 'love jihad' is getting interpreted in the media. Every case of inter-faith marriage cannot be termed jihad, without so much of an investigation.
The youth involved in 'Bridge the gap, bring the change' will begin the campaign by formally meeting union heads in the various campuses across West UP, followed by those with members of the vyapar mandals and other local bodies. They will hold seminars and call both Hindus and Muslims to attend discussions on communal harmony. At the village-level, they intend to organize cricket tournaments with teams that will have players from both the communities.
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