A few unruly tourists and some bad behaviour at some of India's most beloved pilgrim towns, that's really all it took. What should have stayed a local police matter has blown up into an ugly, state-versus-state slugfest playing out on social media. With influencers fanning the flames on both sides, and ordinary citizens, particularly cab drivers, bearing the brunt of retaliatory anger, the dispute raises serious questions about the role of social media in stoking regional hostility.
How It Started: A String of Incidents
Over the past several weeks, a number of videos and reports began circulating on social media, allegedly showing tourists from Haryana behaving inappropriately at Uttarakhand's most prominent religious and tourist sites. According to these accounts, a group of tourists were found consuming alcohol and harassing women at an unspecified location, prompting police intervention. Separately, a group of young men were reportedly found smoking hookah in a public tourist zone, drawing the ire of local residents.
In Haridwar, two young men from Haryana were filmed engaging in objectionable behaviour at the sacred Har Ki Pauri ghat, one of the most revered ghats along the Ganges. They were detained by police and questioned before being released. While these incidents caused outrage among locals in Uttarakhand, they remained largely contained. The flashpoint, however, came from Rishikesh.
The Rishikesh Incident: A Tipping Point
Reports emerged of two tourists from Haryana being allegedly stripped and beaten severely in Rishikesh, with their vehicle also damaged. According to initial accounts, the tourists were accused of molesting a minor girl. After the incident, the girl's mother issued a statement saying that the crowd had beaten up the youth without knowing the truth, and that she had to call the police to save the youths' lives. The tourists subsequently filed a police complaint, and two local men were arrested in connection with the assault.
The arrest did little to quell the fury back in Haryana. Social media erupted almost immediately, with influencers and ordinary users alike calling for a blanket boycott of Uttarakhand. The hashtag #BoycottUttarakhand began trending, with a steady stream of videos urging Haryana residents to stop visiting Haridwar and Rishikesh altogether.
Influencers Pour Fuel on the Fire
The conflict found its loudest voice in Haryana-based social media influencer Harsh Chhikara, whose videos calling for a tourism boycott went viral almost overnight. In one widely-shared clip, Chhikara claimed that the economic lifeline of Haridwar and Rishikesh is sustained almost entirely by visitors from Haryana. "Haridwar and Rishikesh run because of people from Haryana. We are the ones who keep their hearths burning," he said, calling for a one-year ban on Haryana residents travelling to the two cities. "They will starve within a year, that is my guarantee. Then they will come to their senses," he added, also claiming that locals in Uttarakhand use Haryana number plates as an excuse to target and assault visitors.
Several other influencers from Haryana echoed similar sentiments, urging their followers to collectively punish Uttarakhand by withdrawing tourist traffic.
The Retaliation: Uttarakhand Drivers Targeted
The digital war soon had very real consequences on the ground. A video, claimed to have been shot in Delhi, though its authenticity has not been independently verified, began circulating on social media, showing a group of seven individuals confronting a cab driver from Dehradun in a building's parking area. In the video, the men are seen preventing the driver from picking up passengers and issuing a stern warning that Uttarakhand-registered vehicles should no longer operate at the airport or accept Uber rides from the area.
"When we go to Uttarakhand, to Dehradun or Haridwar, they forget all the rules. They teach us rules. They even smash the windows of our cars," one of the men says in the video. "We are still being polite here, we are not raising our hands on anyone." The video also shows what is claimed to be a shattered rear windscreen of a car belonging to an Uttarakhand driver, which the men say was damaged because he had picked up passengers from their area.
The clip was shared widely by Uttarakhand-based influencer Bhupi Panwar, who used it to highlight what he described as retaliatory targeting of Uttarakhand drivers.
Voices of Restraint
Amid the avalanche of inflammatory content, a handful of voices from both states have urged calm and caution. An X handle named Pyara Uttarakhand posted a public appeal urging Uttarakhand residents not to physically confront tourists under any circumstances. "Do not beat any outside tourist. Record video evidence and report it directly to the police. Do not raise your hand on anyone unless your life is in immediate danger," the post read, also advising locals to avoid naming any specific state so as not to fuel regional hatred.
From Haryana, influencer Chaudhary Akash Jatav issued a video urging his audience to reflect inward, arguing that the actions of a small number of individuals were bringing disrepute to the entire state. He appealed to Haryanvis to change their behaviour towards the people of Uttarakhand.
Authorities from both states are yet to make any statement addressing the situation. Until then, the social media war shows little sign of cooling down.
