From May to mid-July 2026, media and multiple human rights groups tracked the demolition of over 23 Muslim religious structures across India. These actions took place within a 45-day window across six states governed by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), i.e., Delhi, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan, and Haryana. The targeted properties spanned centuries of history and served various community functions, including ancient mosques (one reportedly dating back 1,000 years), a 200-year-old dargah (shrine), modern madrasas, and eidgahs used for large congregational prayers. Specific locations cited include Sambhal in Uttar Pradesh and Jaipur in Rajasthan, alongside multiple sites across urban as well as semi-urban areas in Delhi, Maharashtra, Gujarat, and Haryana. This concentrated series of demolitions has triggered intense public debate over heritage conservation, land-use laws, and civil rights. Advocacy groups, such as “Justice for All”, pointed out the 23-plus removals in 45 days as a distinct, targeted pattern. They argue that these swift actions undermine constitutional guarantees regarding religious freedom and fair due process. Several accounts describe a common set of procedural concerns. Residents and legal observers have said that demolitions were carried out without prior written notice, and that structures were removed through rapid, “bulldozer” actions. The same reports allege that nearby Hindu religious structures, which some locals claimed were also built without authorisation, were not subjected to comparable action during the same period. These claims have been used by critics to argue that the enforcement drive was selective and that Muslim sites were disproportionately targeted. The demolitions have been described by community leaders and historians cited in media coverage as affecting both contemporary religious use and historical heritage. The removal of older mosques, madrasas, and shrines has been characterised in these accounts as altering local cultural landscapes and reducing access to spaces used for education, prayer, and communal gatherings. Reports from Sambhal, Jaipur, and other locations note expressions of anxiety among Muslim residents, who describe concerns about the loss of sacred spaces and the precedent set by fast-tracked demolitions. Advocacy groups have linked the pace of the actions to broader fears about the protection of minority cultural identity and the stability of community institutions. The recent demolition of over 23 Muslim religious structures across India within a 45-day period reflects an escalating pattern of state-backed Islamophobia under the rule of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Human rights organisations argue that these rapid actions are not isolated municipal enforcement drives, but rather a continuation of targeted campaigns aimed at marginalising the country’s Muslim minority. By weaponising administrative machinery and heavy machinery, state authorities have increasingly bypassed established legal frameworks to dismantle spaces essential to Muslim community life and identity. Advocacy groups point to these synchronised demolitions across multiple BJP-governed states as evidence of a systemic effort to reshape the nation’s cultural and religious landscape, causing deep anxiety and a sense of vulnerability among the population. This contemporary wave of property destruction directly links to past major incidents, demonstrating how “bulldozer justice” has been normalised as a political tool over recent years. Similar patterns were widely documented during the 2022 and 2024 demolition campaigns in Khargone, Jahangirpuri, and Haldwani, where Muslim homes, businesses, and places of worship were targeted following localised communal tensions or under the guise of removing illegal encroachments without due process. Legal experts and international observers note that these repeated actions create a punitive environment that disproportionately impacts one community while bypassing judicial scrutiny. By linking the historic 1,000-year-old mosques and centuries-old shrines destroyed recently to the broader trajectory of the past decade, critics argue that the ruling party’s policies continue to undermine constitutional guarantees of religious freedom, equal protection, and fair trial rights.
The writer is a freelance columnist.