Several days after the violence between the police and the locals in the Uttar Pradesh state of Bareilly, the chief minister, Yogi Adityanath, on Saturday, September 27, gave a strong warning and said that the UP government has made it clear that any form of interference will be severely punished.
The CM made the remarks on Saturday at a ‘Viksit UP’ event; his comments seemed to target cleric Tauqeer Raza Khan, who leads the Ittehad-e-Millat Council, who had called a protest in favor of the “I Love Muhammad” campaign.
Yogi Adityanath Issues Stern Warning After Bareilly Violence
On Saturday, Tauqeer was arrested by the police and taken into custody. Tauqeer Raza is arrested, and the court proceedings continue. The scenario is already calm and in check, Bareilly SSP Anurag Arya informed the media.
Yesterday, a Maulana had forgotten who was the power in the state,” replied Adityanath, taking no names. He believed he could stop the system whenever he wished, and we informed him there would be neither a roadblock nor a curfew. But we will have taught them a lesson, who will make future generations think before stocking riots, he said.
The BJP leader also mentioned that there had not been a curfew in the state since 2017, as he doubted the purpose of the public gathering.
What is this sort of a thing to stop the system? This is the trend in UP prior to 2017; afterwards, not even a curfew has been permitted since 2017. Adityanath said this was the starting point of the development of Uttar Pradesh.
बरेली में मौलाना भूल गया कि शासन किसका है…
ऐसा सबक सिखाएंगे कि आने वाली पीढ़ी दंगा करना भूल जाएगी… pic.twitter.com/jxVA9vNLw8
— Yogi Adityanath (@myogiadityanath) September 27, 2025
Yogi Adityanath Targets Tauqeer Raza Over I Love Muhammad Protest
On Friday, violence erupted in Bareilly after a group of protestors marched outside a mosque as part of the I Love Muhammad campaign. The meeting was allegedly called on the call of Maulana Tauqeer Raza, a cleric with Ittehad-e-Millat Council.
The protest was a reaction to the fact that Kanpur police had filed an FIR against an I Love Muhammad board hung up in a celebration of the Barawafat procession on September 4.
After the disturbance, District Magistrate Avinash Singh informed PTI that Section 163 of the BNSS (prohibitory order) was applicable in the region, and a written permission was mandatory in case of any march or demonstration. Singh further explained that the Friday protest was conducted regardless of the order being issued as an act of interfering with the peace.
The news agency PTI also quoted DIG Ajay Kumar Sahni saying the clashes were a pointer to a pre-planned conspiracy and vowed to bring all those involved to justice through video footage with a promise of exemplary punishment.