Ram Navami processions across several parts of India, widely circulated online, have shown provocative slogans, anti-Muslim displays, and targeted actions against Muslims and places of worship, raising concerns over the increasing use of religious events as sites of Islamophobia during Hindu festivals.
Soon after Eid was observed peacefully last week, with Muslims celebrating within their homes, videos from Bihar’s Gopalganj district on March 27 show participants in a Ram Navami procession carrying a banner reading, “Ayodhya is just a glimpse, Kashi and Mathura are yet to come.”
The slogan is widely interpreted as extending Hindutva claims over mosque sites in Varanasi and Mathura, following the demolition of Babri Masjid.
Participants were also seen displaying posters of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
In a separate incident from Samastipur district in Bihar, videos from a Ram Navami Shobha Yatra in the Rosera area show participants carrying sticks and weapons while presenting a tableau promoting the “love jihad” Hindutva conspiracy theory, a narrative widely criticised for targeting Muslim men and interfaith relationships.
The visuals depict a staged portrayal of interfaith relationships framed in a criminalised and inflammatory manner.
Similar patterns have been reported from other states.
In Maharashtra’s Ahilyanagar district on March 26, a Ram Navami procession drew attention after visuals showed inflammatory rhetoric and posturing near a mosque.
In another instance, Member of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly Sangram Jagtap was reported to have directed provocative actions towards a modque during a procession, further intensifying concerns about the deliberate targeting of minority spaces.
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