Filmmaker dubs viral Kumbh Mela girl’s wedding ‘love jihad’, plans to approach MP CM
Khargone (MP) (PTI): Film director Sanoj Mishra has claimed the marriage of Monalisa Bhonsle, the young woman who gained prominence during last year's Prayagraj Kumbh Mela, with a Muslim man is a case of "love jihad".
After meeting Bhonsle's family on Sunday, Mishra said he would take up the matter with Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav.
The term ‘love jihad’ is used by right-wing groups to allege a conspiracy by Muslim men to lure Hindu women into relationships and marriage to convert them to Islam.
Bhonsle, who is from Maheshwar town in MP and part of the nomadic Pardhi community, shot to fame after videos of her selling garlands and rudraksha during the 2025 Kumbh Mela in Prayagraj went viral on social media.
She married Farman Khan on March 11 at the Nainar Temple at Arumanoor in Kerala, according to her family.
Bhonsle is shooting in the southern state for her Malayalam debut movie ‘Nagamma’, which is being filmed near Thiruvananthapuram.
Talking to reporters after meeting her parents in Maheshwar, Mishra said he expected the MP government to take the matter seriously and that he was trying to secure an appointment with the chief minister to present the entire sequence of events along with the family.
He claimed the family now realises that it was “a well-planned attempt to trap the girl”.
Certain organisations fund unemployed youths to target Hindu girls to “defame Sanatan Dharma”. Bhonsle's wedding is 'love jihad', he charged.
Bhonsle had been selected for the lead role in his upcoming movie ‘The Diary of Manipur’, which deals with the issue of religious conversion, the filmmaker said.
Mishra alleged that he and his “Sanatani ideology” were targeted because of the film and that Bhonsle was brainwashed and trapped. The entire episode appears to have been “written and executed like a script”, he added.
The filmmaker also questioned why the wedding took place in Kerala. He said the relationship between Bhonsle and her husband was being portrayed as an example of communal harmony.
“Had the boy been Hindu and the girl Muslim, would the relationship have been promoted in the same way?” he asked.
During the meeting, Bhonsle's grandmother, aunt, younger sister and other family members said they were facing social humiliation due to the incident.
Her uncle Vijay Bhonsle claimed she was born in 2009 and was still a minor. He alleged that her age was increased in documents during the passport process, enabling the marriage to be projected as legal.
Monalisa Bhonsle, however, earlier said the reports of her being underage were “fake and incorrect. “I am 18 years old,” she told the media in Kerala after her marriage last week.
A family member alleged that Farman had earlier addressed Monalisa Bhonsle as his sister.
Local BJP leader Vikram Patel claimed that Bhonsle had fallen victim to a conspiracy in Kerala and said legal experts were being consulted before raising the matter with the chief minister.
Mishra said he would continue to raise the issue until “justice” was served.
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Trump pauses Project Freedom, claims great progress for final agreement with Iran
Washington (PTI): President Donald Trump has suspended “Project Freedom,” to escort ships through the Strait of Hormuz, claiming progress in negotiations with Iran toward an agreement to end the war.
In a post on Truth Social on Tuesday, Trump said, “Great progress has been made toward a complete and final agreement with representatives of Iran.”
“Based on the request of Pakistan and other Countries, the tremendous Military Success that we have had during the Campaign against the Country of Iran and, additionally, the fact that Great Progress has been made toward a Complete and Final Agreement with Representatives of Iran, we have mutually agreed that, while the Blockade will remain in full force and effect, Project Freedom (The Movement of Ships through the Strait of Hormuz) will be paused for a short period of time to see whether or not the Agreement can be finalized and signed," Trump said.
Project Freedom was launched on Monday to escort ships, stranded due to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, out to safety. Trump had announced the operation on Sunday and the US Central Command began implementing it the next day.
However, the Project led to friction in the vicinity of the narrow seaway, a key route for transporting one-fifth of the global oil supplies, with the UAE claiming that its ships were attacked by Iran. The US also claimed to have destroyed several Iranian small boats.
Trump’s statement on Truth Social came hours after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that Operation Epic Fury, launched on February 28, had concluded as its objectives have been achieved.
"Operation Epic Fury is concluded. We achieved the objectives of that operation. We're not cheering for an additional situation to occur. We would prefer the path of peace. What @POTUS would prefer is a deal... that is, so far, not the route that Iran has chosen," Rubio told a press conference at the White House on Tuesday.
On Project Freedom, Rubio said the goal was to rescue almost 23,000 civilians from 87 different countries who were trapped inside the Persian Gulf and left for dead by the Iranian regime.
"This is not an offensive operation. This is a defensive operation, and what that means is very simple: there’s no shooting unless we're shot at first. We’re not attacking them, but if they're attacking us or they’re attacking a ship, you need to respond to that," Rubio said.
