Love Jihad or Feudal Mentality?

“Love Jihad”- a term used to define the act where a Muslim guy marries a non-Muslim girl and changes her religion and makes her follow Islam. The term has been raging and caught a special attention once again when an IAS topper Hindu girl decided to marry a Muslim guy who secured the second position in the same IAS ranking. Everyone in the country, including the Hindu Mahasabha, lost their minds because according to them this is an act of treachery and vicious plan to convert Hindus into Muslims. This made me point out one simple fact that is being subtly highlighted through all these comments. Why it is so that everyone has taken it for granted that upon marriage the girl won’t remain a Hindu anymore and will become a Muslim? Let’s consider the case in reverse. A Muslim girl marries a Hindu guy, by her choice. Will we still call it a Love-jihad? Will we take it as an obvious fact that the guy no longer remains Hindu and their kids too will belong to the Muslim community? The answer we all know is a big NO. On the contrary we all will warmly welcome the Muslim into our community as a Hindu girl. This simple example highlights the age old existing feudal mentality that a girl has no stand or identity of her own, even if she is an IAS topper. A girl will always be known by her father’s and then her husband’s identity. Sadly, standing in near end of 2016 the people belonging to the 21^st century generation are also so orthodox. The entire concept of Love Jihad will become null and void once we start considering  a woman as an individual and believe that she too just like her father, brother and husband has an identity of her own and doesn’t need any ‘conversion’ for the sake of validation of the same. A Hindu girl can very well marry a Muslim guy and still remain Hindu, and their kids can proudly follow both Hinduism and Islam, because those who have properly read all the religions will know that both the religion teach love and peace, which according to my understanding, are the most essential fundamental teachings that can be taught.