Pankaj Bhartiya is the State Assistant Secretary of the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) in Himachal Pradesh, a hardline Hindutva figure known for his repeated targeting of the Muslim community in the state. Based in Hamirpur, Bhartiya has played a central role in fuelling communal tensions through public protests, provocative speeches, and direct involvement in local disputes over religious spaces and minority presence.

On April 24, 2025, during a protest in Hamirpur against the killing of Hindu tourists in Pahalgam, Kashmir, Bhartiya gave an incendiary speech urging people to form committees to identify and drive Muslims out of the region. He pushed a dangerous conspiracy theory, claiming Muslims pretend to live peacefully and support Hindus only to later kill them when the time is right. 

Bhartiya has been an active participant in multiple statewide protests organized by the VHP, including a bandh on September 14, 2024, against the alleged unauthorised construction of mosques in Shimla and Mandi. The protests, marked by the chanting of Hanuman Chalisa and Hindutva slogans, led to clashes with police in Shimla, where ten people were injured. Bhartiya used the occasion to push for “verification of outsiders,” accusing people from other states with fake Aadhaar cards of harming local interests. He further alleged that a number of unauthorised mosques had come up across Himachal Pradesh.

In December 2024, Bhartiya joined the Hamirpur Nagarik Manch in a rally at Gandhi Chowk to protest the condition of Hindus in Bangladesh. He described their situation as pitiable and demanded the Indian government take action. In local disputes, too, Bhartiya has been a key agitator. In Sujanpur Tira town of Hamirpur district, where controversy erupted over plans to install a statue of Maharana Pratap in front of a mosque, Bhartiya dismissed Muslim concerns and insisted the statue would be installed as planned. He accused Muslim leaders from outside the state of stoking anti-Hindu sentiment and claimed that “so-called Congress people” were conspiring against Sanatan Dharma. He urged the administration not to back down, framing any compromise as a surrender to “Muslim fundamentalists.”

Across these events, Bhartiya has emerged as a hardline VHP leader openly pushing for exclusion, surveillance, and suppression of Muslims in Himachal Pradesh. His public remarks and actions consistently frame the minority community as encroachers, infiltrators, and threats to Hindu society.