The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) has introduced a campaign in Delhi titled ‘Jihadi-Free Delhi,’ distributing ‘Sanatan Pratishtha’ stickers during the Chhath Puja festival as part of an alleged effort to certify shops selling ‘pure and authentic’ puja materials, though the move effectively serves to economically isolate the Muslim community.
The organisation claims that the stickers symbolise a commitment to cultural preservation and religious purity, but critics regard the initiative as a systematic attempt to divide traders along communal lines and prevent Muslims from participating in local markets, according to The Wire report.
Under the new campaign, the VHP has announced the establishment of stalls across all 30 districts of Delhi, where puja materials will be distributed with assurances of quality and authenticity.
The group has also initiated a verification process for Hindu shopkeepers and vendors, who, upon completion of the checks, will receive an official ‘Sanatan Pratishtha’ sticker to display on their establishments. The verification is said to include inspection of documents, shop registration, and identity confirmation by local representatives.
Although presented as a measure to guarantee purity in worship items, the initiative implicitly identifies traders by their religion, thereby excluding Muslim vendors from festival-related trade.
The campaign extends beyond the Chhath Puja season, as the organisation has indicated its intention to continue issuing stickers throughout the year and expand the initiative beyond religious occasions. Shopkeepers and hawkers catering to Hindu customers will, over time, be expected to display these stickers as proof of adherence to the group’s standards, leading to a situation where consumer choice is influenced by religious identity rather than quality or affordability.
Observers fear that this effort may soon encompass general trade, effectively formalising a system of economic segregation within the capital’s markets.
The idea of a ‘Jihadi-Free Delhi’ is not new, as Hindutva groups have frequently employed similar rhetoric to justify the exclusion of Muslims from economic activity. Earlier, comparable drives in Indore and other cities witnessed banners declaring ‘Jihadi-free markets,’ followed by the expulsion of Muslim traders and the dismissal of Muslim employees from Hindu-owned businesses.
Such actions have deepened existing divisions, leading to widespread job losses and the erosion of livelihoods for both Muslim and Hindu workers dependent on small-scale trade.
The campaign follows a pattern of boycotts by Hindutva organisations in recent years, including efforts to isolate Muslim merchants in Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, and Maharashtra, often in the aftermath of communal violence.
Despite multiple instances where leaders of these organisations publicly called for boycotts, legal responses have been limited, even though the Supreme Court has directed authorities to take suo motu action in cases involving hate speech and incitement.
Analysts have drawn parallels between these campaigns and the economic targeting of Jewish businesses in Nazi Germany, arguing that the use of stickers to certify religious identity echoes earlier methods of exclusion through visual marking. Historians suggest that such actions aim to marginalise economically vulnerable Muslim traders, particularly street vendors and hawkers, while sparing wealthy Muslim business owners whose interests align with political power.