Hindu vigilante in India raid eateries to purge Muslims ahead of Hindu festival
Vigilante squads demand ID checks, threaten boycotts as Hindu pilgrimage route becomes site of anti-Muslim harassment
NEW DELHI, India (MNTV)— Hindu supremacist groups in northern India have begun raiding roadside eateries to identify and target Muslim owners and workers ahead of an upcoming Hindu religious pilgrimage.
The campaign, which has unfolded in the state of Uttar Pradesh’s Muzaffarnagar district, reflects a growing effort by right-wing groups to economically isolate Muslims by pushing Hindu pilgrims to boycott their businesses.
The raids come in the lead-up to the Kanwar Yatra, an annual pilgrimage where millions of Hindu devotees carry holy water from the Ganges River to Shiva temples. In recent years, the event has become increasingly politicized, with Hindu nationalist groups using the pilgrimage to enforce religious segregation and assert dominance in public spaces.
At the heart of the campaign is Swami Yashveer, a self-proclaimed spiritual leader who has mobilized teams of vigilantes — reportedly in the hundreds — to inspect food stalls and restaurants along the Kanwar route.Their aim is to uncover Muslim-run establishments, identify Muslim employees even at Hindu-owned businesses, and ensure that Muslim workers are removed from these spaces.
In a recent incident, a group of Yashveer’s followers raided Pandit Ji Vaishno Dhaba, a roadside eatery. When staff failed to produce ID cards, the group allegedly dragged one worker into a room and attempted to forcibly strip him to determine his religious identity.
“First they asked for my ID card. I told them I had lost it. Then they took me inside and tried to undress me,” said Gopal, an employee at the eatery.
Police later intervened and dispersed the group, but no arrests have been made.
Yashveer has openly defended the actions, stating: “There are many shops named after Hindu gods but run by Muslims. This is deceit. We will protest if they don’t change their names.” His campaign has explicitly linked religious identity to commercial legitimacy, reinforcing calls among Hindu pilgrims to avoid buying food from Muslim vendors.
This is not an isolated incident. In 2024, the BJP-led state government under hardline Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath ordered all eateries along the Kanwar route to display the owner’s name — a move civil rights groups denounced as a veiled strategy to expose and exclude Muslim vendors.
Analysts say these developments are part of a broader pattern in India, where Hindu nationalist groups — often operating with political impunity — are using religious festivals and processions to further marginalize Muslims.
These identity-based campaigns, whether through public boycotts, street-level harassment, or state-backed directives, contribute to a system of economic exclusion aimed at pushing Muslims out of shared public and commercial life.
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