'Communal Dogwhistle': Delhi Industrial Minister Closes Khyala's Booming Jeans Market, Says Report
New Delhi: Residents and workers in West Delhi allege that state industrial minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa abused his powers by amplifying the conspiracy theory that Muslims in a wholesale jeans market in Delhi’s Khyala were using the jeans business to change the demography of the area by forcing out Sikhs and Hindus.
As a result, many shops in the booming Muslim-dominated garment hub were forced to shut down jeans factories, losing the livelihoods of several workers. Notably, though the area has found space for Hindu and Sikh businesses, the allegations of so-called jeans jihad were propagated given that the majority of the traders were Muslims, reports Scroll.In
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Over the past 20 years, the jeans stitching industry in West Delhi drew hundreds of Muslim tailors from Uttar Pradesh, making the region officially an industrial area in 2021. The region has grown as one of the largest wholesale jeans markets in Delhi over the years.
However, the region’s MLA and the minister, Sirsa’s amplification of the allegations has largely impacted the once-booming market. The BJP leader often made allegations that Muslims from Uttar Pradesh working in the jeans business are “Bangladeshi and Rohingya infiltrators,” in addition to using his power to close several shops, Scroll, cites the Delhi minister.
The reporter, who published the story, Anant Gupta, in an X post, raised his concern and wrote, instead of supporting homegrown industry by creating more jobs, the minister drive out workers “with communal dogwhistles,” killing a booming business.
❌ Support homegrown industry to create more jobs
✅ Drive out workers with communal dogwhistlesHow Delhi’s industries minister killed a booming business with his ‘Bangladeshi-Rohingya’ politics.https://t.co/kTr6TaBMCG
— Anant Gupta (@AnantGuptaAG) July 30, 2025
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In a podcast aired on July 7, the minister publicly took credit for the closing down of the Khyala garment hub, stating that he chased out many who were working in jeans factories when asked what the government was doing when it comes to illegal immigrants from Bangladesh and Myanmar.
The minister had earlier echoed similar views that the Bangladeshis and Rohingyas were employed in the Khyala jeans industry. Notably, there is no evidence to suggest that those workers who were in the market were illegal Bangladeshis or Royingyas.
The minister says he was executing the Supreme Court order to clear unlawful businesses in the area. Sirsa initially started targeting the alleged expansion of factories into the residential parts of his constituency, which had some merits, as the establishments started to spill out into the neighboring areas when the business grew.
However, slowly the attack appeared to target a specific community. In one of his statements, Sirsa singled out Biriyani shops, saying they are the ones who are making it impossible for residents to survive in the area. By then, certain Hindi media had picked up the story, labeling it jeans Jihad, given the expanding Muslim-dominated business.
The minister also repeated concerns for Hindu and Sikh families, though skipping the alleged jeans Jihad. The Muslim residents now smell fearmongering without basis. ‘Residents have never complained about their Muslim neighbors in Khyala and Vishnu Garden before’, the Scroll quoted Abid Khan, a resident of the region.
However, the BJP leader and minister’s remarks significantly impacted the businesses and livelihoods of many workers. Once employed over 15,000 workers, the market now has only a fraction of them.
