Communists all across the world are known to be aggressively against all forms of organized religion. However, in India, it has never been the case. Indian communists have always been prone to romanticizing Islam and Christianity and while denigrating Hinduism.
Thus, it surprised no one when former Vice-President of JNU student’s union and Leftist activist Shehla Rashid tweeted in celebration of a musician’s conversion to Islam.
https://twitter.com/Shehla_Rashid/status/1056213366203650048?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
People were quick to point out the hypocrisy of someone celebrating conversions to one’s faith while condemning ‘Gharwapsi’, an initiative to bring back converted people back to the Hindu fold.
https://twitter.com/YRDeshmukh/status/1056493612991680517?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
https://twitter.com/MODIfiedVikas/status/1056521359080218624?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
https://twitter.com/VishakhaJ18/status/1056521211109433349?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
One such person was Pawan Khera, leader of the Congress party.
https://twitter.com/Pawankhera/status/1056507929224974341?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
However, ‘neutral’ journalists were quick to come to Shehla’s defence.
https://twitter.com/PritishNandy/status/1056546327566450688?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Funnily enough, even ‘neutral fact-checkers’ could not see the hypocrisy of a communist celebrating religious conversions, especially those who condemn ‘Gharwapsi’. The Co-founder of AltNews, Pratik Sinha, dragged Rahul Gandhi into the controversy suggesting that the Congress President was creating a ‘sense of otherness’ by peddling soft-Hindutva.
https://twitter.com/free_thinker/status/1056752230290898944?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
It is indeed quite revealing that self-proclaimed ‘neutral’ political observers who have no qualms about the celebration of religious conversions to monotheistic faiths condemn ‘Gharwapsi’ for being communal and accuse of it of being forced despite it not being the case. It is also quite interesting that public display of faith by Indian politicians is construed as creating a ‘sense of otherness’.