Vishnu Sharma, a local leader of the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) in Himachal Pradesh, has built his public identity on open communal hatred and Islamophobic campaigns. 

On April 11, 2024, at a protest rally held in Rampur Bushahr, Shimla, Sharma launched a full-throated attack against Muslims, using the elopement of a minor Hindu girl as a stage to spread extreme hate speech and conspiracy theories.

Standing before a crowd, Sharma urged Hindu residents to evict Muslim tenants from their homes and commercial spaces, accusing them of settling in Hindu-majority areas as part of a larger plan to “conquer” India demographically. He pushed dangerous and manufactured ideas like “love jihad,” “land jihad,” and “thook jihad,” claiming Muslims rent homes with a plan to multiply, slowly gain control, and eventually silence the Hindu voice in India.

According to him, while Muslims are still a minority, they can be dealt with now but a time will come, he warned, when they would dominate the population, and Hindus would be forced to seek their permission just to speak.

Sharma’s speech went further, he vilified Muslim vendors by claiming they spit on food and fruit they sell, declaring it was part of their religious practice. He insisted that Muslim men lure Hindu women by hiding their identities and are rewarded for these acts. He called for a social boycott, urging Hindus to remove Muslims from their neighborhoods, homes, and buildings.