Tag: Kanwar Yatra Route

BJP Wanted to Isolate Muslim Vendors

‘By Kanwar Yatra Diktat BJP Wanted to Isolate Muslim Vendors’

By LokMarg

Bhupendra Yadav, a senior academic based in Western Uttar Pradesh, is happy that Supreme Court has nixed UP Govt’s move to fan Hindu-Muslim antagonism. His views:

The Uttar Pradesh Dookan aur Vanijya Adhisthan Adhiniyam, 1962, regulates shops and trading establishments in UP. It expects all commercial units to register and pay a fee to the government for running their business. Nowhere does this Act mention advertising the name/religion of the owner of such an establishment on a board outside, or, on a placard inside the shop.

The diktat of the Yogi Adityanath government is not surprising. This is because the BJP wishes to isolate Muslim vendors and eateries. Their political objective is to incite devout Hindus, on a pilgrimage, to boycott Muslim shops and vendors.

This helps this party to fan separatism and thrive on the Hindu-Muslim antagonism they have sowed over decades. Like all majoritarian parties, it thinks only numbers matter, while propriety and morality is also decided by numbers — and that might is right!

After the electoral setback in UP in the 2024 parliamentary polls, the BJP seems to have turned from a well-oiled, cash-rich election machine, to a foul-mouthed band of bad-losers. For instance, Sanjeev Balyan is engaged in a public spat with Sangeet Som, another leader of his own party! Is it insecurity, or, is it the vain desire to stay in the news? 

Balyan is no ordinary BJP leader. He’s a clever manipulator and a rabble-rouser par excellence. So, half his politics is governed by communalism, but the other half is driven by insecurity, following his defeat in Muzaffarnagar in 2024 parliamentary polls.

ALSO READ: ‘Yogi Has Done Some Good Work, But Polarised Society Too’

He became a Union minister in Narendra Modi’s cabinet, the first time he won as an MP. Why? Was it because he was accused of fomenting Hindu-Muslim tension in September, 2013? By the way, he was jailed as a precautionary measure by the Akhilesh Yadav government at that time. Hence, here is a die-hard hate-politics symbol who is a ‘direct beneficiary’ of the Muzaffarnagar violence of 2013!

A PhD in veterinary sciences, he was retained as a minister of state despite his bad record. Whatever he did as a minister of fisheries and animal husbandry isn’t advertised. However, he supported Yogi’s ordinance against inter-community marriage which was misrepresented as love-jihad.

In July 2023, Balyan walked 150 kms, like an ordinary kanwariya. He claimed he was undertaking the yatra to propagate a Uniform Civil Code for all citizens in India. This year he has not undertaken the Yatra as yet. But, he is supporting the police diktat to advertise the name of owners and workers of eateries/carts. Why? Balyan’s answer is: “It is a holy month and the pilgrims don’t even eat garlic and onion during the Yatra. What if they lose their piety by the touch of meat or a meat-eater? As a precaution against possible misunderstanding, the names should be displayed.”

However, no one is asking him a crucial question: What if Hindus too, choose to eat in those eateries, simply because they consume meat, garlic and onion, as a part of their regular cuisine?

Communal blinkers may prevent us from exploring the origin of our food, or the historical route of fruits and vegetables. Tea or coffee is our favourite beverage. They are not native to India; they were imported to India. Our staple food is wheat or rice. Neither of it originated in India. Can we live without such beverages and staple foods?

Like our petrol, the dates we eat come from Islamic countries of West Asia. Are they to be boycotted? Mangoes are endemic to India. Several mango orchards in UP are owned by Muslims. Is this delicious fruit, also to be avoided?

Besides, Kanwar means the device used to carry water in two pots, tied to either ends of a pole. Those who carry the device are called Kanwariyas. Legend has it that Shiva drank the poison produced from Samudramanthan, or, the churning of oceans. To relieve Shiva of the negative energy produced by the poison, the Kanwariyas bathe him with the holy Ganga water they carry home from Haridwar, Gaumukh or Gangotri. By walking barefoot for long distances over several days, the Kanwariyas prove their religious devotion. Thereby, we can’t fault them for their beliefs.

With the rise of Hindu communal organisations, this pilgrimage is prone to violence. The number of participants has gone up to a few crores. Moreover, to annoy Muslims, the Kanwariyas are reported to be playing loud music in front of mosques at prayer time.

Ensuring that this Yatra is held peacefully is already an administrative nightmare. Why add to the complexity by this illogical diktat? Thankfully, the Supreme Court has stopped the unreasonable order, even as other BJP-ruled states seemed to be quickly choosing to toe the same line. Hope good sense prevails.

(The narrator is an alumnus of JNU and a former professor of Azim Premji University, Bangalore. He is the author of Framing History — Contexts and Perspectives)

As told to Amit Sengupta

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Displaying Shop Owner’s Name on Kanwar Route Logical

‘Displaying Shop Owner’s Name on Kanwar Route A Logical Step’

By LokMarg

Vansh Saini, a Kanwar Yatri from Muzaffarnagar, says if owners display their names on food stalls, it will help pilgrims maintain the sanctity of their Yatra. His views:

Several members of my family and many friends have participated in the Kanwar Yatra, an annual pilgrimage on foot to fetch holy water to Shiva temples of their devotion. This year I too decided to take part in the religious Yatra. When I saw several of my fellow pilgrims creating a sack of things that included water bottles, daily-use items and medicines, I wondered why they were adding to their luggage when everything is available en route.

Upon enquiry, I was told that they wanted to ensure the purity of the things that they use or consume during the Yatra. Using or consuming any prohibited or profane item would mean that the whole purpose of their pilgrimage ruined. Thus, they would prefer sattvik or Vaishnav food, which is vegetarian food cooked without using onion and garlic, and using their own wares as far as possible.

It may sound irrational to some, but for the faithful such a strict regimen is necessary as you are carrying holy water with yourself. To maintain water’s purity, they carrier too must remain sattvik.  After all, Kanwar Yatra is a kind of penance and thus every effort is made to maintain its sanctity.

It is in this light that I wholeheartedly support the UP administration order which stipulated that all food stall owners along the Yatra route must display their names and the food items sold. This way, the pilgrims can ensure that meat items or food with onion-garlic are not cooked on those premises from where they purchase their food items.

ALSO READ: UP Govt Was Super-Efficient In Managing Kanwar Yatra

The Supreme Court stay on the order is very strange. It would have been better if the court had left it to the food stall owners whether to display their names or not.  That way the Yatris would choose to purchase items where the names would be displayed.

The entire commotion that is being created, mainly by political leaders to gain sympathy of minority community. They forget that the order was not incumbent on shopkeepers of a particular community or caste but on everyone. There have been cases where a restaurant is named after a Hindu religious figure but it also sells meat items. If a pilgrim wants to avoid such food during the Yatra, how does it become discriminatory?

When all shops must display their PAN details, registration numbers etc clearly outside their establishments, why not add the name of owners too in the displayed items. After all, aren’t there already provisions that restrict sale of liquor or meat items near religious places?

There have been cases mentioned in social media that several restaurants on busy highways were found to names after Hindu gods and were owned by Muslims. This probably came to light when consumers used QR codes to pay their bills. While there is no legal provision how a person chooses the title of his or her business outlet, one must respect every religion and faith and avoid naming it after the religious figures of a faith that the owner himself does not follow.

As told to Rajat Rai

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