Araştırma Makalesi

From ‘Love Jihad’ to ‘Shaheen Bagh’: Gendered Securitisation and the De-Citizenization of Women in Contemporary India

Sayı: 20 27 Eylül 2026
PDF İndir
TR EN

From ‘Love Jihad’ to ‘Shaheen Bagh’: Gendered Securitisation and the De-Citizenization of Women in Contemporary India

Öz

This article examines how the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in India deploys securitisation as a technique of government to transform women from political subjects into governable populations. This research is based on data from nineteen semi-structured in-depth interviews conducted in both the UK and India in 2024 and 2025. Drawing on Foucauldian governmentality, Arendtian political theory, and critical security studies, it develops the concept of “de-citizenization” to designate the systematic erosion of women’s capacity to act as autonomous political agents in the public sphere. The argument proceeds through a paired internal comparison of two operationally divergent cases within contemporary India. The first case examines the protective securitisation of Hindu women through the Bharatiya Naari ideal and the Love Jihad apparatus. It transforms interfaith marriages into a national-security concern, and subjects Hindu women’s private intimate choices to state and vigilante surveillance. The second case examines the criminalising securitisation of Muslim women through the suppression of the Shaheen Bagh protests, in which Muslim women asserting constitutional citizenship were reconstructed as terrorist threats and subjected to counter-terrorism legislation. Within this framework, it is shown that these two operations are not separate policies but coordinated articulations of a single governmental rationality whose convergent outcome is the de-citizenization of women across the religious divide. The analysis offers a sociological framework for understanding gender as a primary battleground of contemporary authoritarian consolidation.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Destekleyen Kurum

Scientific and Technological Research Council of Türkiye (TÜBİTAK)

Etik Beyan

The data for this research paper was obtained with the permission of the Hacettepe University Social and Human Sciences Research Ethics Committee, decision number "E-12908312-301.11-00003451847" dated "02.04.2024"

Teşekkür

2214-A - International Research Fellowship Programme for PhD Students (2214-A Yurt Dışı Doktora Sırası Araştırma Burs Programı)

Kaynakça

  1. Agamben, G. (2005). State of Exception. The University of Chicago Press.
  2. Ahmad, T. (2023, November 2). India: Parliament Enacts “Women’s Reservation Bill”. Law Library of Congress, Global Legal Monitor. https://www.loc.gov/item/global-legal-monitor/2023-11-02/india-parliament-enacts-womens-reservation-bill/
  3. AHRC. (2018, April 3). INDIA: Hadiya, Priya and the legal objectification of the young Indian woman. http://www.humanrights.asia/news/forwarded-news/AHRC-FAT-003-2018/
  4. Aljazeera. (2019, December 27). Internet banned in India’s Uttar Pradesh amid anger over killings. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/12/27/internet-banned-in-indias-uttar-pradesh-amid-anger-over-killings/
  5. Ameen, F. (2020, January 15). Shaheen Bagh inspires many protests across the country. The Telegraph. https://www.telegraphindia.com/india/shaheen-bagh-inspires-many-protests-across-the-country/cid/1736089#goog_rewarded
  6. Ananda, D. (2024). The intersection of Indian citizenship amendment act 2019 and religious persecution. Discover Global Society, 2(76), 1-12. https://doi.org/10.1007/s44282-024-00108-x
  7. Arendt, H. (1998). The Human Condition. The University of Chicago Press.
  8. Balzacq, T., Léonard, S., & Ruzicka, J. (2016). ‘Securitization’ revisited: theory and cases. International Relations, 30(4), 494-531. https://doi.org/10.1177/0047117815596590

Ayrıntılar

Birincil Dil

İngilizce

Konular

Toplumsal Cinsiyet ve Siyaset, Uluslararası Siyaset, Cinsiyet Sosyolojisi, Din Sosyolojisi, Kadın Araştırmaları

Bölüm

Araştırma Makalesi

Yayımlanma Tarihi

27 Eylül 2026

Gönderilme Tarihi

16 Mayıs 2026

Kabul Tarihi

3 Temmuz 2026

Yayımlandığı Sayı

Yıl 2026 Sayı: 20

Kaynak Göster

APA
Ayan, C. (2026). From ‘Love Jihad’ to ‘Shaheen Bagh’: Gendered Securitisation and the De-Citizenization of Women in Contemporary India. İmgelem, 20, 322-351. https://doi.org/10.53791/imgelem.1953242
AMA
1.Ayan C. From ‘Love Jihad’ to ‘Shaheen Bagh’: Gendered Securitisation and the De-Citizenization of Women in Contemporary India. İMGELEM. 2026;(20):322-351. doi:10.53791/imgelem.1953242
Chicago
Ayan, Candaş. 2026. “From ‘Love Jihad’ to ‘Shaheen Bagh’: Gendered Securitisation and the De-Citizenization of Women in Contemporary India”. İmgelem, sy 20: 322-51. https://doi.org/10.53791/imgelem.1953242.
EndNote
Ayan C (01 Eylül 2026) From ‘Love Jihad’ to ‘Shaheen Bagh’: Gendered Securitisation and the De-Citizenization of Women in Contemporary India. İmgelem 20 322–351.
IEEE
[1]C. Ayan, “From ‘Love Jihad’ to ‘Shaheen Bagh’: Gendered Securitisation and the De-Citizenization of Women in Contemporary India”, İMGELEM, sy 20, ss. 322–351, Eyl. 2026, doi: 10.53791/imgelem.1953242.
ISNAD
Ayan, Candaş. “From ‘Love Jihad’ to ‘Shaheen Bagh’: Gendered Securitisation and the De-Citizenization of Women in Contemporary India”. İmgelem. 20 (01 Eylül 2026): 322-351. https://doi.org/10.53791/imgelem.1953242.
JAMA
1.Ayan C. From ‘Love Jihad’ to ‘Shaheen Bagh’: Gendered Securitisation and the De-Citizenization of Women in Contemporary India. İMGELEM. 2026;:322–351.
MLA
Ayan, Candaş. “From ‘Love Jihad’ to ‘Shaheen Bagh’: Gendered Securitisation and the De-Citizenization of Women in Contemporary India”. İmgelem, sy 20, Eylül 2026, ss. 322-51, doi:10.53791/imgelem.1953242.
Vancouver
1.Candaş Ayan. From ‘Love Jihad’ to ‘Shaheen Bagh’: Gendered Securitisation and the De-Citizenization of Women in Contemporary India. İMGELEM. 01 Eylül 2026;(20):322-51. doi:10.53791/imgelem.1953242

This work licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Please click here to contact the publisher.