Muslim Women being Seduced Online through ‘Bhagwa Love Trap’: Scanty Evidence, High Publicity
By Syed
Ali Mujtaba, New Age Islam
27
November 2023
Hindutva
is on Prowl! Some Hindutva groups are taking part in an online plot to seduce
Muslim women, which is being called as "Bhagwa Love Trap."
Even
though the evidence of "Bhagwa Love Trap" is scanty, the publicity it
has generated on social media has turned heads and led to real-world violence
in India.
Videos
with the hashtag 'bhagwalovetrap' are posted on social media websites where
Muslim women’s personal details are revealed and their photographs standing
beside Hindu men are used to allege such interfaith relationships.
The
accusers have made false allegations about women’s character that were found to
be untrue as the pictures were morphed and the personal details were forged but
the damage was done.
The
"Bhagwa Love Trap" theory suggests that some Hindutva elements are
trying to seduce Muslim women and lure them away from their communities. The
idea is primarily being pushed to frighten the Muslim community and to keep
their girls indoors and not come into social spaces.
This
is a conspiracy being played on the online medium and this narrative is being
spread on social media. According to a report the phrase "Bhagwa Love
Trap" has been used more than 200,000 times since March this year.
A
Video of a Muslim girl and Hindu medical students riding a scooter has
purportedly been circulated on social media early this May that had led to
communal unrest in Madhya Pradesh.
As a
result of such similar videos more than 15 confrontations from across India
have taken place that follow a similar pattern.
The
"Bhagwa Love Trap" theory has mostly been championed on social media,
often by anonymous accounts. Videos alleging the theory is real, featuring
these and other incidents, have been viewed more than 10 million times on
YouTube, Instagram, and X, accompanied by the hashtag #BhagwaLoveTrap.
According
to Shoaib Jamai, a media influencer, ‘Hindu youths are being
"brainwashed" by the "Hindutva brigade, to lure Muslim women
into love traps.” Mr Jamai bases his comments seeing the videos circulating
online, that show Hindutva leaders actively encouraging Hindu men to pursue
Muslims. He quotes Yogi Adityanath’s words at a political rally in 2007, where
the UP CM says; If Muslims "take one Hindu girl,""we should take
a hundred Muslim girls".
It is
in recent memory that an open-source app on the Microsoft-owned Github platform
called “Bulli Bai” – a derogatory term to describe Muslim women. The app had made a sensation as it had put
more than 100 Muslim women ‘on sale’ for a virtual 'auction.'
Several
Indian Muslim journalists were targeted by the app, including Ismat Ara who
filed a police complaint and then shared on social media that said the app was
“designed to insult Muslim women”.
Media
watchdog Reporters Without Borders described the app as “absolutely chilling” and
urged Indian authorities to take action.
The
makers of the “Bulli Bai” app after being arrested had confessed that their
actions were based on the behest of Hindu right-wing people whom they had
acquainted on social media platforms.
A similar app, named ‘Sulli Deals’, also on
GitHub, had put nearly 80 Muslim women “for sale” but no arrests were made in
this case.
--
Syed
Ali Mujtaba is a journalist based in Chennai. He can be contacted at syedalimujtaba2007@gmail.com
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