A shivling was vandalized in Himachal Pradesh’s Nagrota town, igniting protests led by right-wing groups who blamed the local Muslim community and demanded their evacuation.

The incident occurred on Friday, September 27. However, the situation worsened on Sunday when protesters started assembling at Gandhi Maidan and raising anti-Muslim slogans. Local Hindutva groups quickly attributed the act to the Muslim community demanding the evacuation of Muslims from the locality.

The protests marched through streets and also raided Muslim-run shops demanding them to evacuate while chanting slogans such as “Na mullon ka, na qaazi ka, ye desh hai veer Shivaji ka”.