IAMC Strongly Condemns Wave of Demolitions Targeting Mosques, Shrine, Graveyards and Madrasas in Modi’s BJP-Ruled States
WASHINGTON, D.C. (June 22, 2026) — The Indian American Muslim Council (IAMC), the largest advocacy organization representing Indian American Muslims in the United States, today strongly condemned unlawful and discriminatory campaign of demolitions targeting mosques, dargahs (shrines), graveyards, eidgahs and madrasas across multiple Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-ruled states in India.
According to data published by Muslim Mirror, at least 23 Muslim religious structures have been demolished in the span of just 45 days since May 2026, across Delhi, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Haryana. The demolished sites include centuries-old shrines, mosques that have served communities for generations, and at least one graveyard.
Among the structures destroyed: 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, which community members say dates back nearly 1,000 years, has also been served a vacate notice and remains under imminent threat of demolition.
IAMC notes with grave concern that in case after case, authorities have failed to provide adequate prior notice or follow due legal process before bulldozing these sites, while structures belonging to other religious communities built on similarly contested land have reportedly been left untouched. This selective pattern of enforcement, repeated across state lines and carried out under heavy police deployment, including 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.
“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. When centuries-old mosques and dargahs are bulldozed without notice, without due process, and without touching unauthorized structures belonging to any other community standing right next to them, the message to 200 million Indian Muslims is unmistakable. The international community has watched this pattern repeat for years, right from the Babri Masjid to today’s illegal bulldozer demolitions. The US, UN and the international community must act now, before more of this irreplaceable heritage is reduced to rubble,” said IAMC President, Mohammed Jawad.
IAMC calls on the US Department of State to publicly raise these demolitions in its bilateral engagement with the Government of India, document them in its annual International Religious Freedom Report, and consider India’s designation as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) for systematic, ongoing and egregious violations of religious freedom.
The US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) should launch an investigation into this pattern of demolitions, include affected sites and communities in its monitoring and reporting, and reiterate its recommendation that India be designated a CPC.
IAMC also calls on the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) to formally request information from the Government of India regarding these demolitions and assess whether they constitute violations of international human rights law, including the right to freedom of religion and protection from discrimination.
The UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief should examine whether this pattern of demolitions, carried out without due process and disproportionately targeting one religious community, constitutes a violation of India’s obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The UN Special Rapporteur on Minority Issues should also investigate the impact of these demolitions on the religious, cultural and educational rights of India’s Muslim minority. UNESCO should also assess the loss of irreplaceable religious and cultural heritage and call on Indian authorities to halt further demolitions of sites with significant historical and architectural value pending independent heritage review.
