As allies, senior leader question UP order on Kanwar route eateries, BJP says gives ‘Hindus equal rights’

BJP allies JD(U) and RLD and senior BJP leader Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi joined Opposition parties Thursday in questioning an order by the police in Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh, directing that shops and carts falling on the Kanwar Yatra route display the names of their owners.

After the order, which followed demands on these lines by the local BJP MLA and a prominent Hindu seer, drew all-round criticism, the Muzaffarnagar police issued a fresh advisory Thursday saying that shopowners could display their names and those of their employees “of their own will”.

The BJP, however, defended the police order, saying it allows fasting Hindus who may want to eat at a pure vegetarian restaurant, “where the likelihood of them being served Satvik food is higher”, a choice.

Speaking to The Indian Express, JD(U) leader K C Tyagi said the Kanwar Yatra was taken out in several places across the country, including Bihar, UP and Rajasthan. “There has never been any communal flare-up. If there are any anti-social elements, the police are competent to tackle them. If we demarcate on a religious level, communal harmony will suffer,” Tyagi said.

He added: “Across the western UP belt from where the Yatra passes, there are places where 30-40% of the population is Muslim. Muslim artisans are also involved in making the kanwars which the pilgrims carry, and in arranging food for the Yatris.”

While steps for security arrangements were fine, “no message should go out that creates a communal divide”, Tyagi said. “Has there ever been a riot on the route of the Yatra?”

The RLD, whose political bastion is western UP, also questioned the need for such a directive by the Muzaffarnagar police. “They should provide security arrangements but there is no need to make