Two mosques and a mazar along the route of the Kanwar Yatra pilgrimage in Uttarakhand’s Haridwar were on Friday morning hidden from view with large white sheets, The Indian Express reported. The sheets were removed later in the day.
While the district administration stated it had not ordered the sheets to be put up, the police said that it appeared to have been a mistake.
Satpal Maharaj, the minister in charge of the Haridwar district, said that if such a step was taken, it was to ensure peace. “Any such thing is done only to prevent trouble,” he said, according to PTI. “It is not such a big thing. We also cover buildings when they are under construction.”
Superintendent of Police (City) Swatantra Kumar told The Indian Express: “We have also talked to the party concerned and removed the covers. We have talked to the locals, too. Barricades were being installed on the yatra route, and there must have been some mistake in that, leading to the covers. It was not intentional".”
The Kanwar Yatra this year started on July 22 and will conclude on August 6.
The annual pilgrimage is attended by devotees called Kanwariyas, who walk hundreds of kilometres to collect water from the Ganga near Haridwar and carry it back to their home states to offer at temples. They mainly come from Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, Delhi and Madhya Pradesh.
Earlier this month, authorities in Haridwar and Uttar Pradesh’s Muzaffarnagar directed eateries along the Kanwar Yatra pilgrimage route to display their owners’ names outside the establishments. Three petitions were filed against the directives, with the petitioners arguing that the orders would facilitate discrimination on the grounds of religion and caste.
The Supreme Court stayed the directives on July 22.
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