Hindu Nationalists’ Crazy Crackdown on ‘Love Jihad’

The pandemic is raging in India, economic growth is cratering, and Chinese troops are squatting on land India also claims—and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party has odd priorities. It is determined to fight “Love Jihad,” embracing a conspiracy theory that views Muslim men marrying Hindu women as an act of religious warfare.

Talk of Love Jihad once was limited to the fringes of public discourse. India’s constitution safeguards individual rights, and heterosexual adults may marry whomever they please. But now five BJP-ruled states—Assam,…