Those who chose January 26 to target an elderly Muslim man, have no connection to the legacy of the freedom movement, nor do they believe in democratic values! Thus, they used the day the country became a republic as a day to spread communal poison.
Those communal fascists fabricated the argument to target Vakil Ahmed that his shop's name is "Baba," which according to them is a Hindu word, and there is a temple of Baba Siddhabali in Kotdwar. Therefore, Vakil Ahmed should change his shop's name. 70-year-old Vakil Ahmed has been running his shop under the same name in Kotdwar for the past 30 years, and no one has had any problem with either his shop's name or his religion! But these Hindutva rioters are only interested in furthering their hateful agenda. Had they been exposed to humanity, logic, and reason, they would have known that the word "Baba," isn't the exclusive property of any one language or religion. It's a word used with different meanings in various languages, from Turkish, Persian, Slavic (Russian, Polish, Czech, etc.), to Japanese.
However, when the voices of a 70-year-old man being threatened reached Deepak Kumar, a gym trainer, and his friend Vijay Rawat, who were sitting in the adjacent shop, arrived at the scene. Deepak and Vijay protested the harassment of the man and when Bajrang Dal members asked Deepak’s identity, he gave his name Mohammad Deepak to show solidarity with the aggrieved person!
Deepak and Vijay's resistance forced the Bajrang Dal members to leave the shop. However, to target Deepak, they themselves made viral a video clip in which he gives his name as Mohammad Deepak. Those fanatics must have thought they would be able to incite hatred against Deepak in society. However, the opposite happened. As the video went viral, people saw Deepak Kumar standing firmly in support of a Muslim elder in this era of communal hatred and frenzy, as a brave example of harmony and love.
But the frenzied fascists did not stop here. Seeing the backlash on their failed attempt, Bajrang Dal members on January 31st, gathered in large numbers from Dehradun and Haridwar and created a massive hooliganism in Kotdwar, blocking the road in front of Deepak Kumar's gym, using abusive language, and shouting communal slogans. They coincided this open act of goondaism with Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami’s visit in Kotdwar that day. The police allowed it to happen and later gave an excuse that the entire police force was engaged in CM’s security hence they could not stop the Bajrang Dal members. What could be a more illustrative example of the failure of law and order than the Chief Minister being present in one part of the city, while in another part, frenzied people were blocking roads, abusing, and spewing communal venom?
If this had happened under any other Chief Minister, strict action would have been taken against the police officers for such serious negligence. However, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami himself is known to regularly spew communal hatred by referring to new types of jihads every day, he continues to express his animosity towards minorities. A recent report, "Hate Speech Events in India - Report 2025," released by the Washington-based American think tank, the Center for the Study of Organized Hate, identified Pushkar Singh Dhami as the person who delivered the most hate speeches in 2025. The state ranked fourth in hate speech events, the Chief Minister ranked first in hate speeches, meaning he is leading this hate campaign from the front.
This is the most plausible reason why the state police take a soft stance toward communal elements, who create unrest in various parts of the state on a daily basis.
Deepak Kumar's stand in support of the Muslim elder not only troubled the fanatic communal elements, but it appears to have also deeply troubled the Uttarakhand government and its police. Therefore, based on Deepak's complaint, the police did not file FIR against Bajrang Dal members, but lodged FIR against Deepak and Vijay Rawat on a false complaint by Bajrang Dal. Fakery is evident from the complaint itself which states that Bajrang Dal members were on a ‘mass contact campaign called by Vishwa Hindu Parishad for Dharm Raksha Nidhi’, while everybody saw them threatening an elderly minority community member asking to change the name of his shop.
It is only for the protection given to lumpen communal elements by the Uttarakhand government and the police that in the previous month a hundred year old shrine of Sufi saint and poet Baba Bulle Shah was demolished in Mussoorie, migrant Kashmiri shawl vendors were brutally beaten up in Vikasnagar of Dehradun, followed by this Kotdwar incident. Things did not stop here, communal elements gave an open call for 12 February to attack the gym of Deepak Kumar. This was opposed by left parties and some civil society organisations who lodged their protest at the police headquarters in Dehradun, only then police came into action and stopped those elements from going to Kotdwar. Lumpens are still at work and one of them announced a booty of Rs five lakh on the head of Deepak Kumar right in front of the police station. Police simply lodged an FIR but the person calling openly for murder was allowed to go.
BJP is transforming Uttarakhand into a laboratory of communal hate for long. It has succeeded to an extent but at the same time youths like Deepak Kumar show that to change the fundamental fabric of society is beyond the powers of fascists. In April last year a young woman Shaila Negi bravely confronted a frenzied mob in Nainital when minority community was targeted after the arrest of a rape accused Usman Khan. Bagrang Dal members may find the name Mohammad Deepak unusual, because of their history of their ancestors of evading from the freedom movement. Those who carry forward the legacy of the freedom struggle today are well aware of martyr Udham Singh that he told his name Ram Mohammad Singh Azad to the British police in London in 1940 when he had assassinated Michael O’Dyer.
Kotdwar had been a place where comrade Chandra Singh Garhwali worked among the people in his struggle for a socialist democratic and egalitarian society after he came back from the army where he had refused as a soldier to fire on unarmed Pathan freedom fighters in Peshawar on 23 April 1930.
At a time when people who spread communal venom and hate in the society are in the seat of power, this is our prime task to further strengthen the fabric of our syncretic culture and rich legacy of martyrdoms, and boldly support every effort of resistance against fascists.
