There are things that this nation is agitated about, and there is real news. One of the things we are agitated about — in our media and WhatsApp groups in particular — is demographic change and love jihad and the rest of it. Data does not support our worries, but why should facts be relevant when we have conviction?

The News Minute recently published the latest set of numbers on conversions in Kerala. Remember, this is the state whose high court, in December 2009, announced it suspected a ‘plan to trap brilliant upper caste Hindu and Christian girls from well-to-do-families’. This casual remark by a judge — who accepted that he had no evidence — began the conspiracy theory of 'love jihad', which has grown stronger by the day.

News Minute collected conversion data from the state, whose law requires that every conversion be recorded. The numbers from 2024 show that the state had a total of 963 conversions. Of these, 543 were women and 420 men. The total number of individuals converting to Hinduism were 365 (of whom 329 were previously Christian and 36 previously Muslim). Converts to Islam were fewer at 343 (of whom 276 were previously Hindu and 67 Christian). Converts to Christianity numbered 255 (of whom 234 were Hindu and 23 Muslim).

There is no love jihad or anything else going on in Kerala. The data will not surprise those who have been following it for some time. In my........

© National Herald