New Delhi: Support poured in for Naveen K Razak and Janaki Omkumar, two medical students from Thrissur who faced communal remarks after their dance video went viral on social media. In the video, they can be seen dancing to the song, Rasputinby the Euro-Caribbean band Boney M.
The video was uploaded by Razak on his Instagram account. Soon, it has not only garnered lakhs of likes but the medicos were also praised for making an attempt to lift spirits amid the second wave of Covid-19 pandemic in the country. However, some right-wing ideologues started questioning the motive behind the dance. On Twitter, #DaceJihad was also trending on Friday.
Communal remarks
An advocate, Krishna Raj, on his Facebook account, also shared his views against the dance. Claiming that he smells something wrong, he asked Janaki’s parents to be careful. He also cited a case wherein, a dentistry student has allegedly changed her name from Nimisha to Fathima after the marriage with a Muslim man.
Reacting to the communal remarks, many started supporting the medicos on social media. One of them retweeted a video in which two youth are seen dancing to the same song.
Congress MP from Thiruvananthapuram Shashi Tharoor also praised the students and slammed those who are criticizing them.
Later, students of Government Medical College Thrissur joined the campaign against the hatred and shared a video with hashtag stepagainsthatred.
Love jihad
It may be mentioned that ‘love jihad’, a term that was coined by Hindutva groups has become so popular that some States passed a law against it.
Recently, the Gujarat Assembly has passed a bill to amend the ‘Dharma Swatantrya’ (Freedom of Religion) Act, 2003 which aims to combat forceful religious conversions, better known as ‘Love Jihad’, on the concluding day of the Budget session.
Earlier, the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Religious Conversion Bill, 2021 was passed by the UP Assembly.