Muslims say the move unfairly singles them out, exposing double standards and deepening concerns about discrimination in Uttar Pradesh
LUCKNOW — In what many Muslims see as yet another attempt to target their community, police in Uttar Pradesh’s Moradabad have directed Muslim wedding band operators not to name their groups after Hindu deities.
According to reports, the order followed a complaint lodged on the chief minister’s portal on 9 July by a lawyer named Shabi Sharma. Acting on it, police claimed around 15 to 20 Muslim-owned wedding bands were operating in Moradabad under names linked with Hindu deities.
The city’s Superintendent of Police, Kumar Ranvijay Singh, told Amar Ujala that the band owners were called in on Tuesday and told to change their names. “Everyone has said they will remove the names,” Singh said.
But the decision has triggered anger and disappointment among Muslims in the region. Band owners say that using popular names has been a common practice in business for decades and was never seen as offensive until now.
Mohammad Salman, who runs a small wedding band group in Moradabad, told Clarion India: “We are poor people. Our work depends on marriage season. We never thought naming a band after a common figure was a crime. Suddenly, we are being treated as criminals.”
Another operator, Irfan Ali, said the action was clearly meant to isolate Muslims. “In the wedding band line, most workers are Muslims. If we name our band after a Hindu god, they say we are insulting their deities. If we use Muslim names, people accuse us of hiding identity. Where do we go then?” he asked.
The complainant, lawyer Shabi Sharma, defended his action, saying it was a matter of religious sentiment. He told Hindustan Times: “The business is mostly dominated by Muslims, yet many of them were using names of gods and goddesses. This is an attempt to hide identity. The chief minister himself has demanded action.”
For many Muslims, this reasoning is deeply unfair. Local residents say that in India it has long been common for businesses — restaurants, shops, bands — to use names that are familiar and attract customers. Hindus also frequently run shops and restaurants under Muslim names without facing such restrictions.
A Muslim community elder, Haji Shakil Ahmed, said: “If a Hindu runs a restaurant called ‘Karim Hotel’, no one objects. If a Muslim names his band ‘Shiv Band’, suddenly it becomes an issue. This is not about faith, it is about bias.”
The controversy comes only weeks after another case where Muslims were forced to reveal their identity in business. In July, both Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand governments ordered hotels and dhabas on the Kanwar Yatra route to display QR codes with owners’ names. Critics said it was aimed at exposing Muslim-run shops to boycotts. The Supreme Court later restrained authorities from forcing such disclosures.
Rights activists argue that these repeated moves are designed to push Muslims out of traditional businesses. Advocate Farhat Khan, a Lucknow-based lawyer, remarked: “This is a pattern. Every few weeks a new order comes that directly affects Muslims. Whether it is food stalls, hotels, or now wedding bands, the target is the same.”
For the struggling Muslim band workers of Moradabad, the immediate concern is survival. “We are not politicians. We just play music for marriages,” said band worker Sameer. “Our names were never meant to hurt anyone. If they wanted us to change, they could have spoken to us politely. Why bring police into everything?”
Many in Moradabad now fear that even more restrictions may follow. “Step by step, Muslims are being cornered,” said another resident. “First it was food stalls, then hotels, now wedding bands. Tomorrow, it could be any other small work we do.”
While the police claim the order was issued to avoid “hurting sentiments”, Muslims see it as one more reminder of their shrinking space in Uttar Pradesh under the current political climate.
