Hindutva groups launch campaign urging boycott of Muslim businesses in India
New Delhi: Hindutva groups, including the RSS, BJP, and VHP, have launched a social media campaign encouraging a boycott of Muslim goods, and urging Hindus to buy exclusively from their community.
According to Kashmir Media Service, this campaign, centered around the communal slogan “Apna Tyohar, Apna Vyapar” (“Our festival, our business”), aims to legitimize the economic boycott of Muslims and non-Hindu communities ahead of the Hindu festival of Diwali.
Billboards promoting this message have appeared in Madhya Pradesh, calling on Hindus to support local vendors. These billboards, which have printed the slogan “Apna Tyohar, Apna Vyapar”, is urging Hindus to purchase commodities only from the people of their own community.
Deepak Baniwal, part of the BJP’s IT cell in Madhya Pradesh’s Kannod town, has voiced support for prioritizing purchases from Hindus. Social media influencers aligned with Hindutva ideology are actively promoting this initiative, sharing posters that reinforce the message. They are posting digitally made posters saying “our festival, our business”.
Navneet Sharma, who describes himself as the leader of the Bajrang Dal in Uttar Pradesh’s Moradabad, has also urged Hindus to buy commodities, even if costly, from a select group and not from the wrong place.
In Uttarakhand, local Hindutva leader Raju Rawat has initiated a campaign to identify Hindu vegetable vendors using signboards, urging consumers to buy exclusively from these stalls for “purity.”
Many Facebook users have changed their profile pictures to reflect the campaign slogan, with one user, Suresh Meda, encouraging fellow Hindus to support those who “light up lamps” rather than those who harm the country.
This campaign reflects ongoing efforts by Hindutva organizations to economically isolate Muslims in India.
