Lucknow:

Reacting to the row over using ‘nameplates’ on food shops on the Kanwar route in UP and Uttarakhand, UP Congress state president Ajay Rai said that if Chirag Paswan and Jayant Chaudhary are against this decision, then they should withdraw their support from the government.

Ajay Rai said, “If Chirag Paswan and Jayant Chaudhary are really against this decision, then they should withdraw their support from the government. This decision is definitely wrong. This is to create a division in society. Generally, the poor and downtrodden are involved in such activities. The government is unable to control inflation, unemployment, and paper leaks. They will badly face defeat in 2027.”

He further asked that the same Ganga River water is used to anoint Lord Vishwanath and is also used by Muslims for ‘Wuzu’, will a nameplate be used in such a situation?

Earlier, opposing Uttar Pradesh’s government’s directive for food shops to display their owners’ names along the Kanwar Yatra route, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) and Rashtriya Lok Dal Chief Jayant Chaudhary said on Sunday that it doesn’t appear to be a well-thought-out and well-reasoned decision.

Echoing similar views as Janata Dal (United), the RLD chief is also averse to the decision of identifying people and pointing them.

Notably, Jayant Chaudhary is a part of the Modi-led National Democratic Alliance government at the Centre and his party, RLD, holds important significance in western Uttar Pradesh.

Jayant told news agency ANI, “It doesn’t appear to be well thought out and well-reasoned decision. Any decision shouldn’t cause harm to the sense of well-being of the community and harmony in the community. All those who go on Kanwar yatra and people who serve them, all are same. This tradition has been there from starting and no one saw who was serving them. This thing of identifying people and pointing out them, I couldn’t get that.”

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra has moved the Supreme Court against the directives by the Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand governments that eateries along the Kanwar Yatra route must display the names of their owners.

In her plea before the top court, Ms Moitra has sought a stay on the orders passed by the two state governments saying such directives aggravate discord between communities.

The plea is yet to be listed for hearing.

The TMC leader said by forcing the disclosure of the names of proprietors and even those of their staff, on the stated ground of respecting pilgrims’ dietary choices, “makes it clear that dietary choices is a pretext, or a proxy, for the compelled disclosure of personal — and, in this case, religious — identity”, the plea said.

The plea alleged that this has been done to create a socially-enforced economic boycott on Muslim shop owners and workers, and the loss of their livelihoods.

“Since June 2023, the Respondent No. 1 (State of UP) continued to empower and embolden the anti-social elements by actively targeting Muslim owned businesses based on fabricated and malicious information circulated by the anti-social elements.

“The Respondent No. 1, through acts of commission and omission, created conditions for the complete economic boycott of Muslim minorities on the pretext of their ‘impure’ dietary choices,” the petition said.

On Monday, the Supreme COURT is scheduled to hear a plea against the Uttar Pradesh government’s controversial order. A bench of justices Hrishikesh Roy and S V N Bhatti is likely to hear the plea filed by NGO Association of Protection of Civil Rights.

Meanwhile, extensive arrangements have been made across several states for the Kanwar Yatra that starts on Monday with the beginning of the Sawan month of the Hindu calendar during which lakhs of Shiva devotees carry holy water from the Ganges in Haridwar to their homes while offering it at Shiva temples on their way.

Days after the Muzaffarnagar police asked all eateries along the Kanwar Yatra route to display their owners’ names, the Uttar Pradesh government on Friday extended the controversial order across the state.

The order issued by the Muzaffarnagar police earlier this week has been slammed by opposition parties and some members of the ruling NDA at the Centre, who say it targets Muslim traders.

Authorities in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand on Sunday said they have made special arrangements to ensure a smooth yatra and extensive security measures are in place.

Spanning from July 22 to August 19, this special period for the worship of Lord Shiva will include five Mondays. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)