Over 2,100 Muslim edifices hit in six-year bulldozer drive in India
Mosques, madrasas and shrines across multiple states faced demolition, removal and eviction actions during BJP rule
NEW DELHI, India (MNTV) — More than 2,100 reported instances involving mosques, madrasas, dargahs and other Muslim religious and community properties have been recorded in government demolition, removal and eviction drives across India.
The report covers the past six years, documenting the scale of bulldozer action affecting Muslim spaces during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist BJP rule.
The compilation by Muslim news outlet Millat Times, covering 2020 to 2026, identified at least 2,166 reported instances, structures or aggregate figures from government statements, court records, media reports and documented cases.
The figure is not a tally of 2,166 individually verified demolitions because some government totals overlap with separately documented cases and include partial demolitions and other administrative actions.
The actions stretch across Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Gujarat, Delhi, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Telangana and Assam, involving authorities ranging from municipal and district administrations to development, forest and public works agencies.
Authorities have predominantly justified the actions by citing alleged encroachment, unauthorized construction, occupation of government or forest land, road widening and other infrastructure projects.
Muslim organizations and affected communities have challenged several demolitions in courts, while authorities have prevailed in other land and eviction disputes.
Some of the largest figures have emerged from Uttarakhand, governed by the BJP since 2017. By July 2025, a government figure cited in the compilation put the number of Muslim mazars, or shrines, removed statewide at 538. Earlier reports had documented hundreds of removals from forest land.
Gujarat, another BJP-ruled state, has also witnessed large-scale action. State Home Minister Harsh Sanghavi told lawmakers in 2024 that authorities had demolished 108 mazars in an anti-encroachment drive.
Nine mosques, dargahs and other shrines were demolished in Gir Somnath later that year, triggering proceedings before India’s Supreme Court.
The six-year period has also seen individual mosques with decades or centuries of history razed.
They include the Garib Nawaz Mosque in Uttar Pradesh’s Barabanki district in 2021, Akhoondji Masjid and an adjoining madrasa in Delhi in 2024, a centuries-old mosque in Sitapur in 2025 and the 128-year-old Chawkhowa Jama Masjid in Assam the same year.
Demolitions have continued in 2026. Mosques, madrasas and Muslim shrines have faced bulldozer action in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Delhi and Telangana, among other states.
One of the latest cases came on Sept. 5, when authorities demolished the Collectorate Mosque in Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh, following an eviction dispute over government land. The mosque dates to the early 20th century.
The compilation separates government action from attacks by Hindu mobs and other private actors against Muslim religious properties, including at least 17 mosques, madrasas and shrines attacked, burned or vandalized during the 2020 Delhi anti-Muslim riots.
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