The Uttar Pradesh police have sparked outrage after asking eateries along the Kanwar Yatra route to display the names of their owners. The move — purportedly to avoid any ‘confusion’ — has sparked allegations of bias against Muslim traders.
“As per the order of Uttar Pradesh Police, now every food shop or cart owner will have to put his name on the board so that no Kanwadia buys anything from a Muslim shop by mistake. This was called Apartheid in South Africa and in Hitler's Germany it was called Judenboycott,” fumed Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi.
“And what if the name of the owner is Guddu, Munna, Chhotu or Fatte? What can you find out from these names? The honourable court should take suo motu cognizance of this matter and investigate the intentions of the government and take appropriate punitive action. Such an order is a social crime aimed at spoiling the peaceful atmosphere and harmony,” added former Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav.
Preparations are underway across Uttar Pradesh with the Kanwar yatra set to begin from July 22. The Muzzaffarnagar Police recently announced their plans to have all eateries under their 240 km jurisdiction — including roadside carts — display the names of proprietors and managers.
“This is being done to ensure that there's no confusion among the kanwarias and no allegations are raised in the future, leading to a law and order situation. Everyone is following this of their own free will,” added SSP Abhishek Singh in a video message.
Owaisi however dubbed the move a violation of Article 17 of the Constitution (which pertains to untouchability) and challenged Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to issue a written order on the same.
“We condemn it because it is a violation of Article 17 of the Constitution, which talks about untouchability. So the Uttar Pradesh government is promoting untouchability...Secondly, ever since the Uttar Pradesh government has given the order, Muslim employees have been removed from all the shops in Muzaffarnagar...Will you work for only one community? Where is the Constitution? I challenge Yogi Adityanath to issue a written order if he has the courage,” the AIMIM chief added.
(With inputs from agencies)
