Weaponizing faith? 'I Love Muhammad' and the politics of manufactured riots

By Syed Ali Mujtaba* 

A disturbing new pattern of communal violence has emerged in several north Indian cities: attacks on Muslims during the “I Love Muhammad” processions held to mark Milad-un-Nabi, the birthday of Prophet Muhammad. This adds to the grim catalogue of Modi-era violence against Muslims, alongside cow vigilantism, so-called “love jihad” campaigns, attacks for not chanting “Jai Shri Ram,” and assaults during religious festivals.

Traditionally, Milad-un-Nabi processions have been peaceful. They begin at a mosque, wind through Muslim neighborhoods, and return to their starting point, with participants carrying green flags, reciting verses of the Quran, and honoring their Prophet. Civil administrations have long been aware of these processions and usually make arrangements to ensure harmony.

That changed on September 5, 2005, when a peaceful procession in Kanpur was violently attacked. Since then, similar incidents have occurred in Bareilly, Barabanki, Mau (Uttar Pradesh), Kashipur (Uttarakhand), and other towns. Instead of protecting the victims, the police and large sections of the media blamed the Muslims themselves, accusing them of taking out “unauthorized” processions or attacking the police. This narrative conveniently ignored eyewitness accounts that Hindutva vigilantes deliberately tore down banners proclaiming “I Love Muhammad” and even planted provocative banners reading “I Love Mahadev” to stoke tensions.

Once clashes erupted, police action was swift and disproportionately harsh—door-to-door raids, indiscriminate arrests, and what many have described as outright state terror. In Uttar Pradesh, where the “bulldozer raj” has already become a symbol of collective punishment of Muslims, the repression following these processions has further deepened the community’s sense of humiliation and fear.

It is difficult to believe that state intelligence agencies were unaware of the likelihood of mischief during such processions. Community leaders are usually consulted, and elaborate precautions are taken. The conspicuous absence of preparedness suggests, instead, that a conspiracy was hatched to brutalize Muslims and deny them even the joy of celebrating their Prophet’s birthday.

Scholars like Paul Brass, Ashutosh Varshney, and Steven Wilkinson have long shown how communal riots in India are politically engineered, often to consolidate vote banks or divert attention from governance failures. What remains less studied is why Muslims are consistently chosen as the targets. The answer lies in the systemic embedding of anti-Muslim prejudice in political and administrative culture.

The timing of the recent “I Love Muhammad” violence is telling. The BJP government faces mounting criticism for governance failures. At the same time, Muslim anger against the regime is intensifying, especially after the recent Supreme Court judgment on the Waqf Amendment Act. In this context, scapegoating Muslims through orchestrated communal violence offers a convenient political distraction.

The brutalization of Muslims on the flimsiest pretexts has now become normalized. Each episode chips away at India’s pluralist fabric while reinforcing a dangerous precedent: that the state itself can weaponize religion to maintain control.

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*Journalist based in Chennai