Street Pressure, State Power, and the Criminalisation of Choice: How Hindutva Groups Are Pushing Maharashtra’s Anti-Conversion Law

Street Pressure, State Power, and the Criminalisation of Choice: How Hindutva groups are pushing Maharashtra’s anti-conversion law

Over the past several weeks, Maharashtra has witnessed a sustained, carefully choreographed campaign by Hindutva organisations to force the state government into enacting a stringent anti-conversion—popularly framed as an ‘anti–love jihad’—law. This mobilisation has unfolded across districts, collectorate offices, public halls, hotels, and street protests, synchronised with the Maharashtra Assembly’s winter session. What is emerging is not an or…

Maharashtra’s Anti-Conversion Push: How organised street pressure, Hindutva mobilisation and a pending law threaten constitutional freedoms

Over the past several weeks, Maharashtra has witnessed a sustained, carefully choreographed campaign by Hindutva organisations to force the state government into enacting a stringent anti-conversion—popularly framed as an ‘anti–love jihad’—law. This mobilisation has unfolded across districts, collectorate offices, public halls, hotels, and street protests, synchronised with the Maharashtra Assembly’s winter session. What is emerging is not an or…