Love Jihad: The New Educational Reform in Left Academia? Know the "Proud Jihadis" Whitewashing Jihad
Are influential voices in academia and media downplaying allegations of grooming and coercion by framing concerns over Love Jihad as mere paranoia?
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A video excerpt from a February 2026 podcast hosted by journalist Arfa Khanum Sherwani of The Wire, featuring Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) professor Nivedita Menon, has sparked widespread controversy on social media.
In it, Nivedita Menon and The Wire's propagandist laugh off the concept of Love Jihad and dismiss concerns about a predatory pattern involving Muslim men targeting Hindu women due to religious hatred for Kafirs as mere Hindu male insecurity.
After emphasising a woman's free will and agency, the duo pivoted to the claim that Muslim men somehow possess superior attractiveness or charisma that Hindu women find irresistible. Arfa repeatedly emphasised her question: "Hindu ladkiyon ko Musalman mard hi kyun pasand aate hain?" ("Why do Hindu girls like Muslim men so much?")
Responding to Arfa's crude generalisation about Hindu women, Nivedita said, "Muslim mard honge itne attractive… [laughs] … aur unko apne hi dharm mein woh nahi milta hoga." ("Muslim men must be so attractive… and they probably can't find that in their own religion.")
Nivedita Menon framed the concept of Love Jihad as simply an "expression of helplessness" by Hindu men. Menon suggested that Hindu men feel insecure, implying that Muslim men are somehow more attractive or desirable.
For years, the left-liberal media ecosystem has masqueraded as the ultimate arbiter of truth in India. At the forefront of this narrative-building is Arfa Khanum Sherwani, a senior editor at The Wire. While she is frequently celebrated in international left-leaning circles and awarded by organisations such as the Committee to Protect Journalists, a closer look at her public statements and selective outrage reveals a different story: one of ideological bias, strategic propaganda, and a deep-seated hostility towards Hindu nationalism.
The term "Love Jihad" has, over the years, transitioned from being viewed as an alarm against an Islamist conspiracy to being dismissed by Islamo-leftists as a BJP-peddled hoax, communal propaganda, and much more. In a fresh bid to whitewash this widespread menace, Arfa Khanum Sherwani of the leftist propaganda website The Wire has come up with a shrewd form of denialism that shields the perpetrators of serious sexual crimes and radicalism while gaslighting Hindu victims.
The idea of “Love Jihad” is a profound insult to Hindu women-their dignity&intelligence.
— Arfa Khanum Sherwani (@khanumarfa) April 21, 2026
It assumes they’re incapable of making their own choices &need saviours.
It is a direct attack on women’s autonomy.
More than communal propaganda,its abt controlling women not protecting them
In an X post published on 21 April, Arfa Khanum Sherwani described the term Love Jihad as "a profound insult to the dignity and intelligence of Hindu women". She framed the issue as "communal propaganda" meant to "control women" and strip them of their autonomy.
"The idea of 'Love Jihad' is a profound insult to Hindu women, their dignity and intelligence. It assumes they're incapable of making their own choices and need saviours. It is a direct attack on women's autonomy. More than communal propaganda, it's about controlling women, not protecting them," Sherwani wrote.
On the face of it, it might seem that Arfa Khanum Sherwani is defending the autonomy of Hindu women. In reality, however, she is providing intellectual cover for a documented pattern of deception, grooming, rape, blackmail, and coerced conversion to Islam, colloquially described as Love Jihad.
The Wire's Islamist propagandist is now pretending to care about the dignity and autonomy of Hindu women. However, not too long ago, Arfa attempted to cast aspersions on the integrity of Hindu women who accused their six Muslim colleagues at a BPO unit of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) in Nashik of workplace harassment, constant insulting commentary on Hinduism, sexual abuse, coercion to convert to Islam, pressure to offer namaz, and pressure to eat beef.
"A new wave of targeting Muslims, not the paan vendor or street hawker this time, but the educated, skilled, employed. The aim is clear: make even the few who've secured jobs in this majoritarian system unemployable," Sherwani posted.
Nivedita Menon: The Proud Jihadi?
Born in 1960, Nivedita Menon is a Naxal and Islamic sympathiser. She is also an author and former Professor of Political Thought at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi. Before joining JNU, she taught at Lady Shri Ram College and the University of Delhi. She retired from JNU in November 2025 after a long academic career.
Kashmir Remarks and the 2016 JNU Storm
During the turbulent events at JNU in 2016, following campus protests and debates surrounding nationalism and free speech, a video of Menon addressing a gathering drew national attention.
JNU Prof Nivedita Menon is the same Urban naxal who claimed that India illegally occupies Kashmir.
— Rishi Bagree (@rishibagree) November 30, 2025
This is the kind of poison these Urban Naxals like her fill in young minds, which is detrimental to our Nation. https://t.co/slmKFSDCUK pic.twitter.com/HUPYdDriq4
Professor Menon was addressing a student gathering and, during her speech, allegedly stated that India was "illegally occupying Kashmir". Furthermore, she argued that pro-"Azaadi" (freedom) slogans raised in the region were justified.
Remarks Regarding the Indian Army (3 February 2017)
Less than a year later, Professor Menon faced further backlash following a lecture delivered at Jodhpur's Jai Narain Vyas University (JNVU). She was invited by the Department of English to speak at a seminar themed "Reinterpreting History: Nation, Individual and Culture".
During her address, Menon discussed the Indian Armed Forces, stating that the military serves as a primary means of livelihood for many citizens. She highlighted that sons from economically disadvantaged families often join the army to financially support their households.
Opposition to the Uniform Civil Code (4 December 2021)
Menon has been a vocal opponent of implementing a Uniform Civil Code (UCC) in India, arguing against the mainstream narrative that it serves the cause of gender justice. Menon characterised the push for a UCC as a political mechanism linked to a Hindu nationalist agenda aimed at "disciplining" minority communities, famously describing it as "a stick to beat Muslims with".
She argued that legal uniformity is not inherently democratic or feminist in a pluralistic society and pointed out that certain aspects of Muslim Personal Law, such as treating marriage as a contract and granting specific property rights to women, were already modern.
Support for Bhima Koregaon Accused (18 August 2021)
Menon drew substantial criticism for her public alignment with individuals arrested in connection with the Bhima Koregaon-Elgar Parishad case. In 2021, Menon signed a joint citizens' statement demanding the release of the accused.
The statement alleged that evidence had been planted on the defendants' devices using malware and labelled the prosecution a politically motivated crackdown on dissent, human rights advocacy, and anti-caste activism. She also strongly condemned the custody conditions of tribal rights activist Father Stan Swamy, calling his death in detention an "institutional murder".
The Myth of "Autonomy" and the Reality of Predation
When Sherwani and Menon preach about "choice", they deliberately ignore the grim reality of coercion, blackmail, and sexual violence that define these cases:
The Beawar Grooming Gang (2025): A syndicate of Muslim youths allegedly trapped, raped, and forced minor Hindu girls to recite the Kalma and wear burqas, even establishing "rate cards" based on the caste of the Hindu victims.
The Nashik TCS Scandal: Hindu women allegedly faced horrific workplace harassment, rape, and coercion to convert to Islam by their Muslim colleagues.
The Ajmer Horror (1992): Members of the Khadim families preyed upon hundreds of school-going Hindu girls, trapping them in an endless cycle of rape and blackmail.
To call the systematic grooming, deceit, and forced conversions of vulnerable girls a matter of "free choice" is, according to critics, a grotesque insult to the countless victims from Amravati to Kerala. It mirrors what they describe as the shameful cover-ups of Pakistani grooming gangs in the UK, where the fear of appearing "Islamophobic" allegedly allowed thousands of young girls in Rotherham and Telford to be brutalised for decades.
Written by
Kewali Kabir Jain
Journalism Student, Makhanlal Chaturvedi National University of Journalism and Communication