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Can a 'Muslim' lion and a 'Hindu' lioness live together? An Indian Zoo Dilemma | Religion


The Calcutta High Court this week told the government of West Bengal state in eastern India to consider renaming two lions at a zoo and animal reserve after a Hindu nationalist organization called Vishwa Hindu Parishad ( VHP) would consider their names to be quite malicious.

Starting Tuesday, the court heard the petition requesting a name change for a lioness named Sita, who is named after a Hindu deity. Until recently, Sita shared an enclosure at Bengal Safari Park with a lion named Akbar, partly the reason for the outrage. This it is.

Why did VHP file a court petition over the name of a lion?

The lion Akbar shares his name with a 16th century Mughal emperor who is widely regarded as a beacon of secularism. He had a Hindu wife and many of his key advisors were also Hindus. But like all emperors of the Mughal dynasty, which ruled much of the Indian subcontinent, Akbar is also largely a hated figure among Hindu nationalists.

“Sita cannot stay with Mughal emperor Akbar,” VHP official Anup Mondal said on Sunday.

Members of the VHP, affiliated with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ruling right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), also said they received complaints about hurt religious sentiments from across India, calling the naming of the big cats blasphemous, in the petition. written by VHP West Bengal Secretary Lakshman Bansal.

The lions arrived in West Bengal under an exchange program involving the Sepahijala Zoological Park in the neighboring BJP-ruled state of Tripura. The VHP alleged that Akbar was initially named Ram, a Hindu deity and husband of Sita, and that authorities in West Bengal, the opposition Trinamool Congress party, changed his name.

West Bengal authorities denied this claim and insisted that the lions came from Tripura with their names.

After the petition was filed, the lions were moved to separate enclosures, apparently to ensure that a “Muslim” lion does not mate with a “Hindu” lioness in a country that has been gripped by Hindu nationalist sentiment in recent times. years under the BJP. .

“What surprises me, actually, is the fact that this is now a court case. I find that alarming,” said Moumita Sen, associate professor of cultural studies at the MF Norwegian School of Theology, Religion and Society.

“The dangerous thing about this is that it will set a precedent for a quarter of the law,” Sen said, warning of caution, citing examples of previous incidents where seemingly trivial matters became punishable offenses in India.

Sen spoke of how American academic Wendy Doniger's book, The Hindus, was said to have hurt religious sentiment and triggered book burning incidents across the country and resulted in the book being banned in India.

Now, it appears that some Hindu majority groups believe that lions are susceptible to their conspiratorial concept of “love jihad.”

What is the jihad of love?

Love jihad is a conspiracy theory pushed primarily by Hindu nationalists in India that accuses Muslim men of trying to woo Hindu women to convert them to Islam.

This theory was on the rise in 2021, when several Indian states introduced anti-conversion laws and police began cracking down on Muslim men and interfaith couples.

What does the Internet have to say about Akbar and Sita?

Indian cyberspace, particularly X and Instagram, has exploded with memes and AI art commenting on and mocking the dispute.

“I think when you make a meme, you say a thousand words with a picture,” said Sen, who is originally from Kolkata and has researched Islamophobic memes in India. He described memes as a powerful form of political communication, breaking down language and literacy barriers.

One meme resembles a movie poster with a lineup of hijab-clad panthers. This image refers to the film The Kerala Story, which generated controversy in India in 2023. The film is about women and girls in the Indian state of Kerala who convert to Islam to be recruited into the armed group ISIL (ISIS). While the filmmakers said the film was based on true events, fact-checking groups said little evidence was found to support these claims.

Members of the Muslim Youth League, affiliated with the opposition Indian Union Muslim League party, set up what they call evidence collection counters in all 14 districts of Kerala, offering a reward of 10 million rupees ($122,280) to anyone who provided evidence of the murder. claims. The film was released in May 2023.

One image that is emerging is different interpretations of AI art showing a lion, presumably Akbar, in a majestic beaded Mughal attire. Next to him is what appears to be Sita, dressed as Hindu royalty against the backdrop of a royal court.

Another image that emerged was that of a supposed Muslim lion and a Hindu lioness behind bars.

Memes about Akbar and Sita have been mostly created by critics of the Hindu nationalist movement. Some supporters of the VHP petition have also been offended by the memes.

This in itself is “an indication of what can already be joked about in this country,” said Pratiksha Menon, who has worked as a journalist in India and is pursuing her doctorate at the University of Michigan. “Political humor is taken very seriously if it is considered to hurt Hindu religious sentiments.”

Menon has researched and written about how online Islamophobic humor shapes popular memory. He added that the protest against Akbar and Sita is a regular part of the “very well-oiled Hindutva propaganda system that is maintained through regular outrage”. Hindutva is the Hindu majority philosophy to which the BJP, VHP and their allies subscribe.

Menon explained that “if any ideology or group has to claim that it is being victimized, then it needs to, on a regular basis, present examples of how it is being victimized.”

What did the Calcutta High Court say about lions Akbar and Sita?

Calcutta High Court Judge Saugata Bhattacharyya questioned the naming of the lions.

He said animals should not be named after gods, mythological heroes, influential figures or freedom fighters. He added that not only is it problematic to name a lioness Sita, but it is also not ideal to name a lion Akbar after a successful secular Mughal emperor.

At the New Delhi Zoo, a white tigress is named Sita and in Madhya Pradesh's Kuno National Park, a cheetah is named Agni, after the Hindu deity of fire.

West Bengal advocate Joyjit Choudhury told the court that it was not West Bengal that named the lions, but Tripura, and the zoo authorities were considering renaming them.

The case has been reclassified as public interest litigation, meaning the court will no longer hear the matter.

Sen described the dispute as the “politics of ridicule”. Even the king of the jungle is no longer immune to it.



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