In the heart of India’s diverse cultural mosaic, simple acts of religious devotion—rooted in centuries-old traditions—should foster unity, not division. Yet, the “I Love Muhammad” campaign, which emerged as a heartfelt banner during the Milad-un-Nabi celebrations in September 2025, has been weaponized by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its affiliates to fuel anti-Muslim sentiment. What ordinary Muslims intended as a peaceful affirmation of faith amid a barrage of hate speech and propaganda has been recast as a provocation, leading to brutal police crackdowns, arrests, and violence. This incident starkly illustrates the BJP’s broader agenda: to erode Muslim cultural and religious expressions under the guise of maintaining “law and order,” ultimately aiming to marginalize and suppress India’s largest minority community.
Roots in Tradition: A Banner of Devotion During Milad-un-Nabi
The campaign’s origins are as unassuming as they are culturally significant. On September 4, 2025, during the joyous Milad-un-Nabi (Eid Milad-un-Nabi) procession in Syed Nagar, Rawatpur, Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, local Muslims erected an illuminated banner reading “I Love Muhammad” (PBUH) as part of the festivities honoring the birth of Prophet Muhammad. Such displays—posters, placards, and banners proclaiming love for the Prophet—are a longstanding staple of Muslim celebrations in India, symbolizing devotion and community pride. They are no different from the devotional slogans chanted during Hindu festivals like Diwali or Navratri, yet this innocent gesture was swiftly politicized.
As the tradition spread organically to other areas like Bareilly and Varanasi, Muslims—ordinary shopkeepers, families, and even children—adorned mosques, homes, and businesses with the phrase to counter the pervasive atmosphere of fear. One poignant example: children in Bareilly painted “I Love Muhammad” posters for their local mosque, a pure expression of faith that echoed the syncretic ethos of India’s pluralistic heritage. Far from a “campaign” orchestrated for confrontation, it was a grassroots response to reclaim space in a society increasingly hostile to Muslim visibility.
The BJP’s Toxic Backdrop: Propaganda Through Speeches and Cinema
To understand why this benign tradition was twisted into a flashpoint, one must examine the BJP’s relentless anti-Muslim propaganda machine, which has intensified in 2025. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s election rhetoric, including labeling Muslims as “infiltrators” during 2024 campaigns, set a precedent that permeated into 2025, with hate speech against minorities surging by a “staggering” 74% according to reports. BJP leaders’ speeches routinely demonize Muslims, portraying them as threats to Hindu identity, while films like “The Sabarmati Report” (released in late 2024 and still influencing discourse in 2025) propagate distorted narratives of events like the 2002 Godhra riots to vilify Muslims and glorify Hindu nationalism.
This cinematic and oratorical onslaught—described by critics as “brazen propaganda”—creates a climate where any Muslim expression of faith is scrutinized and sensationalized. In Uttar Pradesh, under Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s iron-fisted rule, such rhetoric translates into policy: economic boycotts, vigilante attacks, and now, the criminalization of devotional banners. The timing of the backlash—coinciding with Navratri—further suggests a deliberate strategy to equate Muslim joy with Hindu provocation, deepening communal rifts.
From Devotion to Demonization: How the BJP Flipped the Script
Almost immediately after the Kanpur banner went up, BJP-aligned media and Hindu nationalist groups reframed it as an act of “enmity” and “provocation.” Outlets like OpIndia alleged a grand conspiracy, claiming the protests were premeditated to replicate the 2010 Bareilly riots, with “5,000 rioters” stockpiling bricks and petrol bombs in 390 mosques—narratives that conveniently ignore the initial peaceful intent. Counter-slogans like “I Love Mahadev” and “I Love Ram” flooded social media and streets in Varanasi, mocking the original phrase and turning a moment of love into a “battle of devotions.”
On X, the discourse revealed the manipulation: while some users defended the cultural right to such expressions (“What’s wrong with loving your Prophet?”), others amplified BJP talking points, decrying it as a threat to “Indian secularism.” In Haryana’s Sonipat, graffiti twisting the slogan into “Love Jihad” on a park swing sparked local outrage, showing how the BJP’s ecosystem distorts facts to stoke fear.
Police Brutality: Turning the Tables on the Victims
The real tragedy unfolded in Bareilly on September 27, 2025, when Friday prayers protesting the banner’s removal escalated into clashes—not initiated by Muslims, but inflamed by the state’s overreach. What began as a march led by cleric Tauqeer Raza Khan (a vocal critic of both Modi and Adityanath) devolved into stone-pelting and arson, but investigations reveal heavy-handed policing: over 100 arrests, house-to-house raids, and the shooting of protester Tazim in an alleged extrajudicial encounter.
Bulldozers razed properties linked to protesters, internet shutdowns silenced voices, and even opposition leaders like Congress MPs Imran Masood and Danish Ali were placed under house arrest for attempting to visit victims. Flag marches by police in Bareilly underscored the one-sided crackdown, with X users lamenting, “Indian Muslims can’t even say ‘I love Muhammad’ without arrests.” Tensions spilled to Barabanki and Mau, where security forces targeted Muslim neighborhoods, inverting the narrative: the victims of propaganda became the accused.
This disproportionate response—while Hindu counter-campaigns faced no repercussions—exposes a systemic bias. As one X post poignantly noted, even holding the tricolor with the slogan led to arrests, questioning if loving one’s faith is now a crime.
Voices of Resistance: Pushing Back Against Shrinking Spaces
Amid the crackdown, Muslim voices and allies have rallied. The Congress party defended the campaign, with spokesperson Supriya Shrinate asking, “What’s wrong with people expressing love for their God or Prophet?”—highlighting India’s syncretic traditions. Organizations like the All India Muslim Personal Law Board urged calm but condemned the “flashpoint” as another assault on civic spaces for Muslims. On X, hashtags like #ILoveMuhammad trended with appeals for international scrutiny from bodies like the UN Human Rights Council.
Internal Muslim debates, including calls to use “PBUH” respectfully, show community self-reflection, but the core issue remains: why is one community’s devotion criminalized while others thrive?
Conclusion: A Sinister Intent to Erase Muslim Identity
The “I Love Muhammad” saga is no isolated flare-up; it’s a microcosm of the BJP’s mission to dismantle Muslim religious and cultural life in India. By twisting a Milad tradition into a bogeyman, amplifying it through propaganda films and speeches, and unleashing state machinery on the faithful, the party reveals its true aim: not harmony, but homogenization under a Hindu-majority vision. As hate speech peaks and minorities shrink into silence, India risks losing its soul as a pluralistic democracy.
Civil society must amplify these stories, demand accountability, and reclaim the right to love without fear. Otherwise, tomorrow’s banners may be the last whispers of a fading tradition.
References and Further Reading:
- The Hindu: “I Love Muhammad Row: Arrests and Clashes”
- Times of India: “Congress Defends the Campaign”
- India Today: “Battle of Loves”
- Human Rights Watch: “Hate Speech in Modi’s India”
- X Trends: #ILoveMuhammad, #BJPPropaganda