By continuing to stay together against all odds, some men and women are preventing militant groups and State functionaries sympathetic to their cause from shaping India in their imagination

In the backdrop of rising Hindutva dominance, there are some who refuse to be intimidated into betraying their love—and religious identity. Illustration/Uday Mohite

Statistics rarely tell the complete story: In 2018-2019, roughly 260 enquiries were filed with Dhanak, an NGO that facilitates inter-faith couples to tie the knot under the Special Marriage Act (SMA), without one of them having to convert to the other’s religion. Such inquiries will barely touch 80 in 2024-2025 by March-end. Dhanak’s co-founder, Asif Iqbal, said militant Hindutva groups have combined with State functionaries to menace Hindu-Muslim couples, prompting them to part ways, or go to states where religious conversion for marriage is not proscribed.

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Yet, in the backdrop of rising Hindutva dominance, there are some who refuse to be intimidated into betraying their love—and religious identity. They solemnise their union under the SMA or opt for a live-in relationship. I spoke to 10 such couples. All of them said their togetherness is an assertion against Hindutva; that their very “being and becoming” resist the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and Bharatiya Janata Party from shaping India in their imagination.

They surprised me on two........

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