Gym instructor Deepak Kumar has become a hero in India after standing up for a bullied Muslim shopkeeper. - DEEPAKAKKIKUMAR/INSTAGRAM via ST/ANN
NEW DELHI: A brawny gym instructor has become a poster boy for India’s longstanding but fraying pluralism after he stepped in to defend an old Muslim shopkeeper who was harassed by a group of Hindus in Kotdwar, a city in the northern Indian state of Uttarakhand.
It has come as a welcome flicker of hope against widespread instances of right-wing Hindu vigilante assaults against India’s minorities, especially Muslims.
Indian Hindus have often watched helplessly as such brazen attacks unfolded in front of them – too afraid to intervene in case they are attacked – but here was a much-needed act of resistance by someone who chose not to remain a mute spectator.
Members of Bajrang Dal, a right-wing Hindu group, had stormed the old man’s shop in Kotdwar on Jan 26, demanding he change the name of his garment store that for 30 years has been known as “Baba School Dress”.
They claimed the name could “cause confusion” with Siddhbali Baba, a famous Hanuman temple in the same town.
While the term means father in several Indian languages and is commonly used to address Hindu saints, “Baba” is also used, including by Muslims, to refer to one’s father or a respected elder such as a Sufi saint or a spiritual guide.
In a video of this incident that has gone viral, Deepak Kumar, 46, who was nearby, confronts the mob and asks why others can name their shops “Baba” but not a Muslim owner. “The shop is 30 years old, will you change the name?” he asks the crowd.
Asked what his name is, he replies valiantly, “My name is Mohammed Deepak.” It was an inspired response, fusing his Hindu identity with that of Muslims, to convey his idea of a pluralistic India.
Since then “Mohammed Deepak” has become part of popular social media hashtags such as #IStandWithMohammedDeepak, with ordinary Indians stepping in to defend Kumar and holding him up as an icon of India’s multi-religious fabric.
“#DeepakKumar believes in and spoke up for the constitutional promise of fraternity that unites India,” said author Nilanjana Roy on X on Jan 31.
Leader of the opposition Rahul Gandhi, too, tweeted on Feb 1 that Kumar was “a living symbol of a shop of love in the marketplace of hate”, as calls mounted for him and the country’s opposition parties to do more to support the local hero.
Kumar needs all the help that he can get now. The altercation at the shop has snowballed into a major controversy in the region pitting right-wing Hindu groups against him and his supporters.
The local police have even registered a complaint against him and his supporters, who have been accused of using derogatory language and threatening violence during the confrontation.
At the same time, complaints have also been officially recorded against right-wing members involved in the altercation, as well as those who blocked a national highway on Jan 31 to express their anger over Kumar and his associates’ intervention.
Still, support continues to pour in for Kumar, indicating how humanity can triumph over hate.
Lawyers, including those from the Indian Civil Liberties Union, an all-India network of activists, have stepped in with pro bono aid for Kumar. Commoners have promised financial assistance too, if needed.
Harsh Mander, a former Indian bureaucrat and a writer who has led a public campaign called “Karwan e Mohabbat” (Caravan of Love), said the outpouring of support for Kumar indicates that the “silence of the (Indian) majority is not an endorsement of the continuous battery of hate that is directed at us citizens on, literally, a daily basis”.
“What it reveals is that on the ground there is a disquiet, a sense that this is not what India is about, that this is not what our religion teaches us and that is not even what being Hindu is about,” he said.
Kumar is among the brave who have acted in defence of humanity, especially at a time when hate has coursed through Indian society and attacks on minorities have been on the rise, while the law-enforcing authorities are accused of looking the other way.
In December 2025, a 22-year-old woman in Bareilly in the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh drew praise for saying that assailants had no “authority to judge people and decide who I should be friends with”.
This came after a dozen Hindu men crashed her birthday party – which included two Muslim guests – and attacked them. - The Straits Times/ANN
