Targeting of Muslims continue unabated in Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh

Targeting of Muslims continue unabated in Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh

S.M. A. KAZMI

Dehradun, Nov 18

The onslaught against minority Muslim community continued unabated in the hill states of Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh. With state assembly polls slated to be held in 2027, the foot soldiers of Hindutva brigade of RSS have up the ante against minority Muslim community in hill states of Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh. While, state assembly polls will be held in January 2027 in Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh will go to polls in the fall of next year.

Already, the Muslim community has been under constant target of being accused of indulging in ‘Love Jehad’, ‘Land Jehad’, ‘Mazar Jehad’, ‘Thook Jehad’ and even ‘Nakal Jehad’ by the BJP,RSS and its’ allied organisations particularly in Uttarakkhand.

Two separate incidents in both the states indicate that the Hindutva brigade is out to communalise the situation with an aim to polarise the society. In an incident in Banphoolpura area of Haldwani town of Nainital district of Uttarakhand, shops and business establishment belonging to Muslims were attacked on Sunday night after rumours spread that the head of a calf had been found at the gate of a school near Ujjwaleshwwar temple. A large crowd gathered in Banbhulpura after word spread on social media about the alleged discovery of a carcass of a cow. A complaint was filed by a local resident, Ravinder Gupta, against an unknown person.

The agitated crowd raising slogans of ‘Jai Shri Ram’ indulged in vandalism causing damage to shops and vehicles in the area. The Banphoollpura area has remained on the radars of Hindutva forces for long since it is a predominantly Muslim area inhabited by poor people. In February, 2024 there was large scale violence and six persons lost their lives in police firing following action by civic authorities to demolish a mosque which they claimed was built on government land. Police and paramilitary forces have been deployed to prevent any further incident.

Interestingly, the CCTV footage showed a dog dragging the remains from a nearby forest area to the area. Despite these findings, the rumour continued to circulate, drawing a mob that targeted shops and property owned by members of the minority community. Police had to resort to lathi charge to disperse the crowd.

According to Police, seven individuals were taken under preventive detention under Section 172 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNSS) and others are being identified from amongst the rampaging crowd. The Nainital police chief has also suspended Firoz Allam, Police post incharge of Belpadav where crowd indulged in arson within the police post.

In neighbouring state of Himachal Pradesh, another incident was reported from Shimla where minority Muslim members were prevented from offering Friday congregational prayers by women from Hindutva brigade at Sanjauli mosque on November 14, 2025. The women argued that the mosque was illegal and they feel ‘threatened’ by the presence of Muslims and would not allow them to offer prayers. The Himachal Pradesh has registered cases against six persons including four women linked to the ‘Devbhoomi Sangharsh Samiti’, for allegedly preventing people from offering prayers at a mosque in Sanjauli. The group confronting Muslim worshippers also demanded their identification documents. The individuals, identified as co-convenor Madan Thakur, Vijay Sharma, Kalpana Sharma, Shweta Chauhan, Shilpi, and Parul, gathered at the site claiming the mosque was illegal.

They blocked entry, questioned the citizenship and identities of those arriving for namaz, and insisted prayers were prohibited following a local court order. Some locals joined in, reportedly turning worshippers away.

The Sanjauli mosque, a multi-storey structure, has been at the centre of controversy for over a year. It first drew widespread attention after a clash in the nearby Malyana area triggering a demand for its demolition. In October 2024, the Commissioner’s Court declared the top three floors of the mosque illegal and directed the Himachal Pradesh Waqf Board and the Sanjauli Mosque Committee to demolish them within two months. The Himachal Pradeesh Wakf Board has claimed that the mosque was on it’s own land.

In May 2025, the court went a step further, declaring the remaining two floors illegal and ordering the entire structure to be razed. The Waqf Board and the mosque committee challenged this ruling in the district court, but in October 2025, the court upheld the demolition order. The committee has since announced its intention to move the High Court against the decision.

The samiti, known for anti-Muslim campaigns, has demanded full demolition of the structure, alleging it was built unlawfully on government land. They later submitted a letter to senior police officials, seeking restrictions on namaz gatherings, identity verification of attendees, and disconnection of electricity and water to the mosque.

In Uttarakhand, the campaign against Muslims has been continuing unabated as members of the community are being targeted at various places. In the past few months, there has been concerted attempts to prevent Muslims from running their small businesses on one pretext of other. Any small incident involving a Muslim is trigger enough for the Hindutva brigade to target the entire community.

After rains, many festivals and melas some of them traditional fairs are held across Uttarakhand and a large number of Muslims from neighbouring Uttar Pradesh set up stalls. This year there had been attempts to target them and pressurise the officials and organisers of the fair to evict them. Similar incidents were witnessed at ‘Saras mela’, a government sponsored fair held at Rishikesh last month when Muslims who offered prayers in their stalls were targeted. The Vishwa Hindu Parishad members objected to prayers being offered by Muslims at ‘Devbhoomi’ of Rishikesh.

Most interestingly, they also objected to the invitation of famous Urdu poet Wasim Barelvi for a ‘Mushiara’ on the occasion. They questioned the officials that why a Muslim that too from Bareilly where riots on the issue of ‘I Love Mohammad’ happened was called. They demanded that a local artist from Uttarakhand should have performed instead.

In another incident in Garhi Cantonment area of Dehradun, a local Muslim youth who was allegedly seen with a Hindu girl and it prompted the local councillor to declare that no Muslim will be allowed to run their shop or business in the area.

A video in which in Hindu leader namely Bhupesh Joshi of Dehradun is seen threatening a groundnut seller. He is asking that why a photo of a Hindu god is displayed at his road side shack. He threatened to taker action if such photos were not removed immediately. He accused the Muslims of camouflaging their identity to befool the majority Hindus.