'Rakhi Jihad': Why Media, Hindutva Accounts Are Pushing a New Bogey

It all started with Rakhis which had a moon and a star. Enough to launch 'Jihad' allegations out of thin air.

'Rakhi Jihad': Why A New 'Jihad' Is Being Pushed By the Right-Wing.

(Photo: Kamran Akhter/The Quint)

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If you thought you have seen the media or the right-wing ecosystem term everything as 'Jihad' already, then well, you're in for a surprise.

A wild new claim, another alleged 'Jihad' has entered the market and this time, it's 'Rakhi Jihad.' Ahead of Rakhi celebrations on 9 August, The Quint found out that right from right-wing accounts, to a prominent TV media channel, all are purportedly platforming narrative of 'Rakhi Jihad.'

But how did this new 'Jihad' rhetoric take form? Where did it originate from?

This misinformation — evidently aiming to target Muslims — was borne out of a video reported by a local TV news channel, Pahad TV. The video showcased a collection of Rakhis being sold on Dehradun road, Rishikesh in Uttarakhand.

Among them is a Rakhi which has a moon and the star, and this has become the point of contention, enough to launch 'Jihad' allegations, without rhyme or reason.

"The moon and the star on the Rakhi also represents another community. This should be investigated as to what do these elements signify? Does this signal towards a Jihadi conspiracy to malign Hindu festivals?" a voiceover in the video can be heard saying.

Manufacturing of such communal news has also become a pattern frequently reported from Uttarakhand. To understand how such politics impact the local Muslims, leads to calls for their economic boycott, watch our documentary on Uttarakhand here.

'Muslims Want to Make Rakhi, a Pure Tradition, Impure' 

Shortly after the Rakhi video surfaced online, a prominent right-wing personality who claims to be a sanatani warrior, Sadhvi Prachi entered the conversation.

We have reported on the devious ways in which she spreads hate against Muslims, the influence she has come to wield in an in-depth profile here.

Prachi posted a video online where she stated, "The whole country has seen land jihad and love jihad. But yesterday, I saw a video through social media and TV. The Rakhis being made by the other community, are selling 'chand-sitaare' Rakhis. I want to request the Sanatani sisters of this country, since this is our own pure tradition. But do not tie Rakhis to Muslim men. This is all happening under Rakhi Jihad for the past 2-3 years and is increasing now. Buy Rakhis only from our people too."

Whether it's Pahad TV's statement or Prachi's remarks, no evidence or concrete correlation that could establish that there is any kind of conspiracy at play was put forward.

Strikingly, referring to Prachi's remarks, Zee News media ran a segment on this.

One of the panelists could be heard asking, "Do you have a problem with chand sitaare or Muslims? If it's the former, then don't even look at the sky then." He was cut off by another Sadhu who shouted, "Jihadi soch."

Slamming Prachi's remarks, All India Muslim Jamaat's chairman, Maulana Shahabuddin Razvi reportedly said that Prachi is spreading hate by talking about 'Rakhi Jihad' to create communal disharmony. He stated that irrespective of whatever Rakhi is made of, a woman from any religion can tie a Rakhi to his brother.

'Jihad se ishq kam karey," (Do not love the word Jihad so much), he added, speaking about Prachi. He also said that she should understand that Jihad does not mean anything negative and signifies the struggle against the evils of the society.

However, digging through social media, we also found that even though 'Rakhi jihad' in particular is a relatively new unfounded claim, the foundations for the same have been laid down for some time now.

For example, a couple of posts online show a disturbing AI-generated video to supplement this right-wing theory that 'Abdul' will befriend Hindu girls/women, make them his sister, have sexual relations with them and trap them under incest.

Megh Updates, a popular right-wing account also shared a video supposedly that the man in the video, an alleged ex-Muslim is urging Hindu women not to tie Rakhis to Muslims.

Previously too, there have been cases of gender violence and deaths that were given a communal color by the media to feed into this narrative. There were accounts on social media that spread this too.

The basis of this communal rhetoric is also not a newsflash as it was connected with the 'love jihad' bogey in the past too.

Back in 2014, The Rashtriya Swamsevak Sangh (RSS) vowed that they will use the rakhi bond to counter alleged forced conversions and 'love jihad'’ cases in western Uttar Pradesh.

This story comes barely a couple of months after alleged 'Jeans Jihad' controversy was reported from Delhi, and various forms of 'Land Jihad, 'Love Jihad,' ' Thook Jihad' and 'UPSC Jihad' among others have been covered over the years. Our reports have also shown the impact of such narrative on people's psyche, their prejudices and how it affects lives and livelihood of Muslims in reality.