Police conducted raids on gyms in Bhopal’s Ayodhya Nagar, accompanied by Bajrang Dal leaders, inquiring specifically about Muslim trainers and members. In a widely circulated video, Sub-Inspector Dinesh Sharma is seen instructing gym owners to bar Muslims from working as trainers or enrolling as trainees. Supporting the raids, BJP MP Alok Kumar told the media that he has submitted a list of gyms in Bhopal, alleging ‘love jihad.’ Another video shared on social media shows Bajrang Dal leaders demanding the names of all trainees and trainers present at the gym. Later, the Sub-Inspector arrived and explicitly warned the gym owner not to allow any Muslims to give or receive training.
“Let me tell you clearly, no Muslim will come here, neither for training or for getting trained,” Dinesh Sharma said.
The video quickly went viral, sparking public outrage and raising questions about the presence of Bajrang Dal leaders and activists alongside the police during the raids. BJP MP Alok Sharma told the media that he had submitted a list of gyms where either the trainers or trainees are Muslims.
“We will give this list to the police in the coming times… Nobody will be permitted for love jihad now… Even land jihad is going on. This will not work. The law will do its work and take action on such matters…” He said. He also insisted that women should be appointed as the only female trainers.
The incident occurred on May 28, after Bajrang Dal members visited gyms in Ayodhya Nagar and demanded that no Muslims should be allowed to come to the gyms. Similar incidents have also been reported in other regions of Madhya Pradesh. In Indore, the demand to bar muslims from gyms followed up after Mohsin Khan was accused of running an illegal shooting training center and allegedly involved in rape and molestation.
“Madhya Pradesh has Dr Mohan Yadav’s government, which will not allow Love Jihad or Land Jihad to happen anywhere,” Alok Sharma told the media.
The MP had earlier also made comments on Love Jihad in the state as a ‘well-planned conspiracy to break the Hindu society and the Centre should seriously consider bringing a strong deterrent law to stop it’.
“Some organisations are training the boys of a particular minority community in some cities in the country to woo the Hindu girls deceitfully in the guise of a Hindu boy and marry them, and later force them to change their religion. I am gathering data on it,” Sharma said at protests, organised against the alleged exploitation of Hindu girls by Muslim boys.
While talking to the media after the gym raids, Sharma also asserted that Bhopal is not just the land of Nawabs, but also that of Ashoka and Chandragupta Maurya. He also demanded to rename the institutions, with Muslim names like Obaidia School, Rashidia School, Sultania Janana Hospital, and Hamidia Hospital, to Indian historical figures, claiming that these names are politically driven.
Congress MLA Bhopal-Central, Arif Masood, responded to Alok Sharma’s claims as ‘political theatrics’, asking him to act responsibly rather than trying to ‘increase his TRP’.
“Opening a gym or providing training is not a crime. If someone is trained, they will provide training. If there’s any suspicion, then investigate it. People choose their gyms and trainers, not MPs or MLAs,” Masood said.
Regarding the renaming of institutions, Masood stated that Congress is not concerned with the names, but instead with the work. Masood also responded to the Sharma’s comment on Muslim shopkeepers opening the shops late at night, asking Is this ‘Pakistan’. Masood said that if the law allows the shops to remain open till 11 pm, Muslims would do so.
The Additional DCP, Mahavir Singh, has reportedly initiated an internal inquiry into the incident, and the concerned sub-inspector, who was posted at Ayodhya Nagar Police Station, is now attached to the Police line.
