Decided to Call Her ‘Akhila Hadiya’ to Show Support: Rahul Easwar

Rahul Easwar with Hadiya.

(Photo: Facebook/Rahul Easwar)

In a blog written for NDTV, social activist Rahul Easwar talked about his meeting with Hadiya, a 25-year-old Muslim convert. Earlier known as Akhila, she had been in the midst of a massive controversy termed “love jihad” ever since she decided to embrace Islam and subsequently marry a Muslim man, Shafin Jehan.

Recently, the apex court directed Hadiya to continue her studies under the protection of her college dean.

Rahul Easwar is his blog cites why he doesn’t think Hadiya is not a victim of ‘the so-called Love-Jihad’.

She was inclined to a faith of Islam from 2013 and formally chose that in 2016. Only months after converting, she got married. So how can it be a matter of “love jihad”? 

Rahul Easwar in his blog for NDTV.

He said it is not fair to lock her up for years because she 'got wrong advice and took a wrong step'. He was talking about Hadiya's decision of not returning to her parents.

The first decision I took when I decided to support her is to call her “Akhila Hadiya”. 

Rahul Easwar in his blog for NDTV

Easwar says when he met and interacted with Hadiya in August, she had expressed her helplessness and said, “....whatever name you call me, it's okay. Please save me from this place."

After meeting in person with Hadiya and her parents, Easwar had released a video where the girl asks him to counter her mother with the questions "Is keeping me like this enough? Is this all my life is going to be?"

This is not a Hindu-Muslim issue but a family issue, where a child grew isolated from her parents and didn’t have a positive relationship with her mother and later grew distant with her father. 

Rahul Easwar in his blog for NDTV.

Easwar also writes that Hadiya has become a victim of a ‘communal and political tug-of-war’ and is being used to reinforce the extremist agendas. He says the case is also a matter of finding a sense of belonging in another religion probably because she faced ‘a spiritual vacuum.’

We may agree or disagree, but it is our duty as Indians to uphold the constitutional rights that are guaranteed to her.

Rahul Easwar in his blog for NDTV

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