Indian Americans urge US, UN action over demolitions of mosques, shrines in India
Washington: The Indian American Muslim Council (IAMC), the largest advocacy organization representing Indian American Muslims in the US, has strongly condemned unlawful and discriminatory campaign of demolitions targeting mosques, dargahs, graveyards, eidgahs and madrasas across multiple Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-ruled states in India.
According to Kashmir Media Service, citing data published by Muslim Mirror, IAMC said at least 23 Muslim religious structures have been demolished in just 45 days since May 2026 across Delhi, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Haryana. The destroyed sites include centuries-old shrines, mosques serving communities for generations, and at least one graveyard.
Among the demolished structures are the roughly 200-year-old Mangolpuri Dargah in Delhi; an Eidgah and a Dargah in Sambhal, Uttar Pradesh; three dargahs and a graveyard in Gujarat; the nearly 200-year-old Ajgaib Shaheed Mosque in Varanasi; the nearly 100-year-old Bopodi Dargah in Pune; the Noorani Mosque in Jaipur; Noori Masjid in Bhayandar, Maharashtra; an 800-year-old dargah in Etawah; and four mosques in Barmer, Rajasthan. The historic Masjid Ganj Shaheeda in Varanasi, said to be nearly 1,000 years old, has been served a vacate notice and remains under imminent threat.
IAMC noted that in case after case authorities failed to provide adequate prior notice or follow due legal process before bulldozing the sites, while structures belonging to other religious communities on similarly contested land were reportedly left untouched. The selective enforcement, repeated across states and carried out under heavy police deployment with internet shutdowns in several cities to suppress dissent, points to a coordinated effort to erase Muslim religious and cultural heritage from India’s public landscape, it said.
“Its clear and systematic erasure of Muslim heritage and the physical dismantling of a community’s right to worship, bury its dead, and educate its children,” said IAMC President Mohammed Jawad. “The US, UN and international community must act now, before more of this irreplaceable heritage is reduced to rubble.”
IAMC called on the US Department of State to raise the demolitions bilaterally with India, document them in its International Religious Freedom Report, and consider designating India as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC). It also urged USCIRF to investigate, OHCHR to request information from India, and UN Special Rapporteurs on Freedom of Religion and Minority Issues to examine violations. UNESCO was asked to assess the loss of heritage and halt further demolitions pending independent review.
