UP Says Shops On Kanwar Yatra Route Must Display Owners' Names, Uttarakhand Follows Suit Amid Massive Row

Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Friday ordered to install a ‘nameplate’ of the proprietor of all the eateries, restaurants on the Kanwar Yatra route across the state in a bid to maintain the purity of the faith of Kanwar pilgrims, reported news agency ANI citing the UP CMO order. Following the lead, Uttarakhand also issued a diktat on similar guidelines of installing nameplate on board across the Yatra route to facilitate the pilgrims.

The UP CMO further stated that action will be taken against those found selling products with Halal certification, while the Uttarakhand Police warned for stringent action against those who fail to comply the rules.

Haridwar Senior Superintendent of Police, Pramod Singh Dobal said, “All those who operate hotels, dhabas, or street food stalls have been ordered to display the proprietor’s name, QR code, and mobile number at their establishment. Those who fail to comply will face strict action and will also be removed from the Kanwar route.”

The decision came days after Muzaffarnagar Police issued directives to all the eateries enroute the Yatra to display names of their respective owners in a move to avoid any “confusion”. However, a controversy was triggered after the opposition parties dubbed the move as a ‘state-sponsored bigotry’ and action targeting ‘Muslim’ traders.

Congress’ UP unit chief Ajay Rai condemned the decision and said that the BJP-led government is trying to create distance among people. “This is absolutely impractical. They are trying to impair the sense of brotherhood in society, trying to create distance among people. This should be cancelled immediately…” he said.

AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi Uttar Pradesh’s police decision to “apartheid” in South Africa and “Judenboycott” in Hitler’s Germany. “As per the order of the Uttar Pradesh Police, now every food shop or cart owner will have to put his name on the board so that no Kanwariya buys anything from a Muslim shop by mistake,” he said.

Slamming the state government, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav said, “Such orders are social crimes. The government wants to spoil the peaceful atmosphere.”

Former UP Chief Minister and BSP supremo Mayawati also criticized the state government’s move, calling it unconstitutional. She stated that the UP government had ordered shop owners along the Kanwar route to display their full names for electoral gains.

However, senior BJP leader and former Union minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi slammed the order and said that it may spread the “disease of untouchability”.

In an apparent reference to the orders, Naqvi said on X, “Kuch ati-utsahi adhikariyon ke aadesh hadbadi mein gadbadi wali… asprishyata ki bimari ko badhawa de sakte hain… astha ka samman hona chahiye, par asprishyata ka sanrakshan nahi hona chahiye (the hasty orders of some overzealous officials may spread the disease of untouchability…Faith must be respected, but untouchability must not be encouraged).” In another post, Naqvi also hit out at some online trolls for his earlier post.

“Don’t give me a certificate of respect and devotion for Kanwad Yatra, I always believe that ‘no faith should be hostage to intolerance and untouchability’,” Naqvi said in Hindi on X.

Meanwhile, UP minister Kapil Dev Agarwal has claimed some of the Muslim traders sell non veg food items to the pilgrims under the garb of Hindu names. “They write names like Vaishno Dhaba Bhandar, Shakumbhari Devi Bhojanalaya, and Shuddh Bhojanalaya and sell non-vegetarian food,” India Today reported citing the minister.

BJP National General Secretary Dushyant Kumar Gautam stated that Muslims living in the area where the order has been passed do not have any issues with it. He alleged that certain individuals are politicizing the matter unnecessarily.

“The public living in areas for which the orders have been passed have no problem…The Muslims have no problem with it, they are welcoming the Kanwad yatris. Unfortunately, some people are doing politics on it,” Gautam told ANI.

Amid a raging debate over the directive, UP police have put out a statement clarifying that the intention of this order is not to create any kind of “religious discrimination” but only to facilitate the devotees.

The Kanwar Yatra is set to commence on Monday, July 22.