BJP's Naqvi, JDU blast UP Police order to Kanwar route shopkeepers

New Delhi: Senior BJP leader Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi on Wednesday evening hit out at UP Police for its order to shopkeepers to display their names on the 240-km 'kanwar route' from Haridwar to Delhi.

In a post on X in Hindi, Naqvi said: "The hasty orders of some over-zealous officials may give rise to the disease of untouchability... Faith must be respected, but untouchability must not be patronised... 'Don't ask about birth or caste, what is the caste and lineage. Raidas, all are sons of the Lord, none are of low caste'."


Naqvi also posted a photograph in which he can be seen participating in a kanwar yatra.

Earlier in the day, NDA partner JDU also red flagged the UP Police decision. JDU leader KC Tyagi said this would create further division in society and the state government should rethink its decision. "Kanwar yatra has been taking place for years and this region has a significant minority population. No incident of communal violence has been reported and people live in a cordial atmosphere. Such a decision will divide society," Tyagi told ET. "Several minority families are doing business in kanwar. The state government should rethink this order."

Muzaffarnagar Police announced this decision on Wednesday as part of the preparations for the kanwar yatra in the district. SP chief Akhilesh Yadav termed this order a social crime. "The honourable court should take suo motu cognizance and investigate the intentions of the government and take appropriate punitive action. Such orders are social crimes, which want to spoil the peaceful atmosphere of harmony," Yadav said.

BJP termed this as a preventive step. "There is no harm in displaying the identity of the person. There were several reports that posters of Hindu Gods are being used and illegal activity takes place in the guise of the same. The government has taken a preventive step," Rakesh Tripathi, UP BJP spokesperson, told ET.