India’s Hindu nationalist government accused of targeting Muslims and lower-caste Hindus in land eviction order
A directive by Uttar Pradesh state officials named Yadavs and Muslims as encroachers, sparking outrage over casteist, anti-Muslim state policy
NEW DELHI, India (MNTV) — A government order in India’s most populous state has triggered national outrage for explicitly instructing officials to launch an eviction campaign targeting Muslims and members of the Yadav caste, a historically marginalized Hindu community.
According to Indian media , the directive—issued on July 29, 2025, by the rural governance department of Uttar Pradesh—ordered all district magistrates to clear “illegal encroachments” by individuals belonging to a “particular caste (Yadav)” and a “particular religion (Muslim)” from village lands.
The document, circulated with a petition by a BJP-aligned farm leader, listed public lands such as ponds, compost pits, barns, cremation grounds, and village council properties as areas to be “freed” from these communities. The campaign was to be implemented across nearly 58,000 village councils.
The order ignited fierce condemnation from political leaders, civil rights groups, and constitutional experts, who called it “communal,” “casteist,” and a grave violation of Articles 14 and 15 of India’s Constitution, which guarantee equality before the law and prohibit discrimination based on religion or caste.
Chandra Shekhar Azad, a member of Parliament and a prominent Dalit rights activist, denounced the directive as “deeply unconstitutional” and “administrative indiscipline” and called for criminal charges and immediate dismissal of the officials responsible.
Rights activists argue the order is part of a broader pattern under the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has increasingly faced accusations of weaponizing state machinery to marginalize Muslims and lower-caste groups.
After public backlash, the directive was hastily withdrawn, and S.N. Singh, the Joint Director who signed the order, was suspended.
But opposition leaders called the suspension a cover-up. “This is not about a single bureaucrat. This comes from the top,” said I.P. Singh of the opposition Samajwadi Party. “The Yogi Adityanath government has become a laboratory for dismantling the Constitution. The hatred is institutional.”
The Samajwadi Party, which draws much of its support from the Yadav community, accused the BJP of attempting to criminalize and dehumanize entire communities for political gain.
“Why only Muslims and Yadavs?” asked SP leader Yasar Shah. “Is illegal encroachment a crime exclusive to two communities? This is nothing but a communal dog whistle ahead of upcoming elections.”
Activists and legal experts have also demanded a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) inquiry into how such a blatantly discriminatory directive was approved through multiple layers of the state bureaucracy, including the Chief Minister’s Office.
The episode has once again raised alarms over the normalization of targeted state action in India. While the directive may have been rescinded, observers say it reflects a deeper rot—where governance is increasingly shaped by majoritarian impulses and political calculations, not constitutional principles.
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