Naseeruddin Shah On Love Jihad: Never Wanted Ratna Pathak Shah to Change Her Religion

The exceptional veteran actor Naseeruddin Shah has fearlessly put forward his opinion on how well-thought efforts being undertaken to create a divide between Hindus and Muslims in the name of 'love jihad'.

"I am really furious with the way divisions are being created, like the love jihad tamasha in UP. Firstly, the people who coined this phrase don¡¯t know the meaning of the word jihad," said Naseeruddin Shah.

Naseeruddin Shah / ANI

The actor believes the term "love jihad" stems from the idea of stigmatizing inter-faith marriages and stop social interactions between Hindus and Muslims.

¡°They not only want to discourage interfaith marriages but also curtail social interactions between Hindus and Muslims,¡± he added.

Naseeruddin Shah and Ratna Pathak Shah / Twitter

Talking about his own inter-caste marriage with celebrated actress Ratna Pathak Shah, Naseeruddin says he never asked her to convert to date.

"We have taught our children about every religion. But we have never told them that they belong to any particular religion. I always believed that these differences would slowly fade away. I believed that my marriage to a Hindu woman would set a healthy precedent. I don¡¯t think this is wrong,¡± he said.

Naseeruddin Shah / ANI

"This is not the world I had dreamt of,¡± he concluded.

Naseeruddin Shah's views come after states like Haryana and Madhya Pradesh have decided to enact laws to counter attempts to convert Hindu women to Islam in the name of marriage, which political leaders often refer to as ¡°love jihad¡±.