The Rashtriya Lok Dal on Friday said it will raise its concerns with both the Centre and the Uttar Pradesh government about an order by Muzaffarnagar authorities asking eateries along the Kanwar Yatra pilgrimage route to display the names of their owners, reported The Indian Express.
The Rashtriya Lok Dal is part of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance. The party was the third constituent of the coalition to have opposed the directive in recent days.
“Firstly, our party’s stand is that if a decision is made which impacts a large section of the people, then the government should think it over,” the party’s National Secretary Anupam Mishra told The Indian Express. “Secondly, the timing of this is wrong. As per food safety regulations, every eatery has to display its name, and the details of its products.”
Mishra said that if the police order has to be implemented, then eateries should be told to specify if they serve vegetarian or non-vegetarian food with red or green symbols, like on food packets.
“Our country has people from different communities and harmony must be maintained,” he told the newspaper.
The party will raise the matter in the state as well as in the Centre, Mishra said.
During the Kanwar Yatra, devotees, called Kanwariyas, walk hundreds of kilometres to collect water from the Ganga near Haridwar and carry it back to their home states to offer at temples.
The devotees mainly come from Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, Delhi and Madhya Pradesh. This year’s Kanwar Yatra will start on July 22 and conclude on August 2.
Authorities in Muzaffarnagar had earlier directed dhabas, food stalls and hotels along the pilgrimage route to display the names of their owners and operators.
Abhishek Singh, Muzaffarnagar’s senior superintendent of police, on Wednesday said that the decision was taken to “avoid confusion” among devotees who would travel on the route.
The Rashtriya Lok Dal is the third National Democratic Alliance member to express concern regarding the order.
On Friday, the Janata Dal (United) and the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) also said that the order should be reviewed.
Union minister and Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) leader Chirag Paswan also told PTI on Friday that he did not support the directive. His party is also an ally of the BJP. “Whenever there is such divide in the name of caste or religion, I absolutely do not either support it or encourage it,” Paswan said.
Janata Dal (United) leader KC Tyagi said on Friday that the order violates Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “sabka saath, sabka vikas, sabka vishwas” ideology, Janata Dal (United) leader, ANI reported.
Following the directive in Muzaffarnagar, authorities in BJP-ruled Uttarakhand also issued a similar order asking owners of eateries to display their names, reported The Times of India.
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami backed the directive, asking why anyone would want to hide their identity.
Unconstitutional order, says Priyanka Gandhi
The directive issued by the authorities in Muzaffarnagar violates the Constitution, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Friday said.
“Our Constitution guarantees every citizen that he will not be discriminated against on the basis of caste, religion, language or any other basis,” she said in a post on X. “The divisive order to put up name boards of the owners of carts, kiosks and shops in Uttar Pradesh is an attack on our Constitution, our democracy and our shared heritage.”
She said that the order should be withdrawn immediately and strict action should be taken against the officials who issued it.
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