The ‘I Love Muhammad’ campaign has rapidly gained momentum across India, sparking arrests, poster removals and widespread anger over what Muslims describe as blatant discrimination and selective policing.
In Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, prominent cleric and Ittehad-e-Millat Council chief, Maulana Tauqeer Raza Khan, was arrested for supporting the campaign and has been sent to 14 days’ judicial custody. His detention came a day after police clashed with worshippers carrying ‘I Love Muhammad’ posters following Friday prayers. Over two dozen people were detained in the crackdown.
Similar scenes unfolded in Mumbai’s Malvani locality, where police forcibly removed ‘I Love Muhammad’ banners while threatening legal action against those who reinstalled them. Local residents accused authorities of applying double standards, pointing out that political hoardings and Hindu festival banners appear across the city without permission yet face no such police action. “If our posters are taken down, then remove Navratri and Diwali ones too,” said a resident, calling the move discriminatory.
In Uttar Pradesh’s Kanpur, Lucknow and Moradabad, police registered FIRs and detained Muslim youths who displayed the slogan during Milad processions, terming it a “new tradition.” By contrast, Hindu groups were allowed to hold counter-campaigns with slogans like “I Love Ram, I Love Yogi, I Love Bulldozer” under full police protection. Rights activists noted that while at least 1,324 Muslims have had cases filed against them and 38 arrests confirmed, no action has been taken against Hindu groups who openly staged provocative rallies.
The targeting of Muslims has drawn strong condemnations from religious and civil society bodies. The All India Muslim Majlis-e-Mushawarat termed Raza’s arrest a “blatant attempt to silence peaceful dissent” and warned of deepening communal polarisation. Jamaat-e-Islami Hind also denounced the arrest, calling it a misuse of state power and a dangerous assault on India’s democratic ethos.
“This is a textbook case of selective justice,” said social activist Khalid Rahman. “Muslims are criminalised for peacefully expressing love for their Prophet, while Hindu groups receive protection for provocative campaigns.”
Analysts say the controversy, which has now spread to Maharashtra, Uttarakhand, Karnataka, Gujarat and Telangana, is being politically exploited to sharpen communal divisions ahead of elections. For Muslims, however, the message is clear: their faith is being singled out and their rights curtailed.
“If saying ‘I Love Muhammad’ is treated as a crime, then India must ask itself what freedom really means,” remarked a youth from Kanpur.
