Bhopal: After a series of videos emerged showing Madhya Pradesh police publicly parading crime accused forcing them to chant slogans like “Police hamari baap hai (police is our father)” and “Gaai hamari mata hai (cow is our mother)”, now, a new video from Bhopal shows a police officer – on camera, in uniform – warning Muslims to stay out of a gym, raising fresh concerns over the police’s involvement in promoting communal narratives.
The controversy, this time, centres on sub-inspector Dinesh Shukla, who is seen sitting with Bajrang Dal members in a purported video addressing people inside a gym, stating, “Yahan koi bhi Mohammadan na ayega, na training lene ayega, na training dene ayega. Meine keh diya (No Mohammedan will come here, neither to take training nor to give it. I have said it).”
SI Shukla, in a widely circulated video, appears to enforce an informal ban on the presence of Muslim men in public spaces like the gym, reflecting the language used by right-wing groups who push the ‘love jihad’ conspiracy theory. While the sub-inspector has been line attached, his presence, alongside self-declared vigilantes, has raised serious questions about the narrowing gap between law enforcement and ideological policing in Madhya Pradesh.