Kanwariya Order: Time For Rahul, Akhilesh To Step Up

'There is one way to defeat the intention behind this directive: To patronise Muslim establishments that have been forced to identify themselves.'
'This is one opportunity for the Congress to show that the 'mohabbat ki dukaan' its leader talks about does exist.'

'Can Akhilesh Yadav, who has asked the court to take note of this directive, order his party members to do this?' asks Jyoti Punwani.

Two thoughts immediately came to mind seeing the board 'Nisar Fal' put up by a Muzaffarnagar mango vendor on his cart on the orders of the police.

First, that while earlier, rioters marked houses so as to easily identify them for attack, now the State was forcing this identification.

Second, as children of Partition refugees, we had heard of matkas at railway stations marked 'Hindu paani, Muslim paani'. Now, we are seeing this shameful practice being enforced by the State.

This transformation into 'new India' is a logical progression, given that the State is now driven by the same ideology that the rioters were; the same mindset that promoted Partition and saw India as a Hindu Rashtra where Hindus and Muslims could not coexist as equals.

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In some parts of Mumbai, Muslim homes were identified with a marker days before they were attacked during the post-Babri Masjid demolition riots of 1992-1993, victims told the Srikrishna Commission of Inquiry.

The recent directive by the BJP governments of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand that food vendors on the kanwar yatra route display their names, is not meant to identify Muslims for attack, though that could well be one of the outcomes. The reasons given by officials and BJP leaders concern 'law and order' and 'purity'.

One can understand the strict insistence on vegetarian food during a Hindu religious yatra. The simplest solution to that is to frequent only vegetarian outlets, which is probably what the kanwariyas have been doing all these years. In fact, according to locals, non-vegetarian outlets are not allowed to remain open on the route of the yatra when it is in progress.

What then is the problem?

The problem appears to be, from statements made by BJP leaders and the police, that some of these vegetarian outlets are run by Muslims. What makes it worse, according to these leaders, is that Muslims have named these outlets after Hindu deities. This, they allege, is a bid to 'mislead' Hindus, and have in the past, led to 'law and order' problems.

Going by this argument, even vegetarian food becomes 'impure' if cooked in a Muslim establishment. By definition, Muslim-owned food establishments or those where Muslims are employees, are 'impure'. The directive applies also to fruit vendors, so even fruit touched by Muslims is to be avoided.

According to hoteliers interviewed by the independent news channel Red Mike, the police have insisted that not just the proprietor's name, but even the employees' names must be displayed. At least two Hindu owners have been 'advised' by the police to sack their Muslim employees.

What is this if not untouchability, exactly what Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, one of the BJP's token Muslims, pointed to in his tweet on this directive?

India Today TV's Gaurav C Sawant, who anchored a show on this topic on Thursday night, listed the kind of food suitable for a kanwariya: No garlic and onions, vessels untouched by non-vegetarian food, a bath before cooking. Since he supported this directive, he obviously assumed that a Hindu owner would ensure all these conditions are met, whereas a Muslim owner, even when s/he serves only vegetarian food, will not.

When a maulana guest on his show asked what was the guarantee that a Hindu owner would do all this, Gaurav C Sawant shouted him down.

So basically what the directive issued by two elected governments means is: Boycott Muslim eateries and those who employ Muslims.

Both these actions violate the Constitution. Since no proprietor will dare remove the nameplate once the kanwar yatra is over, this unconstitutional directive will be a permanent feature in UP and Uttarakhand.

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What prompted these directives? Did kanwariyas petition the UP and Uttarakhand governments that they wanted to eat only at Hindu establishments? Or, that some Muslims were 'misleading' them into eating from their outlets?

There are no such reports. In fact, some Muslims have been welcoming and even hosting kanwariyas for years in UP.

This directive comes from the same mindset that vandalised a dosa outlet in Mathura run by two Muslims in 2021 only because it was named after the presiding deity of Mathura, Sreenath (another name for Lord Krishna); the same mindset that searches for Muslim establishments with non-Muslim names and asks Hindus to boycott them (a common enough message on WhatsApp groups run by BJP supporters).

Incidentally, the Mathura dosa outlet that was vandalised was owned by a Hindu who had no problems letting Muslims run it. The 'law and order' problem was created not by those who owned and ran the outlet, but by the bigoted goons who vandalised it.

Has the BJP and anchors like Gaurav C Sawant ever thought why Muslims choose Hindu names for their outlets? Could one of the reasons be the fear of loss of custom if their outlet had a Muslim name, specially if it served vegetarian food? Isn't that itself a telling comment on the extent of prejudice that exists in our society?

Another reason is the canard successfully spread during the Covid lockdown that Muslims spit on food, including fruits, before serving or selling them. Muslim vendors and cooks were arrested on those grounds, based on videos taken from a distance which showed them either blowing away flour from rotis, or blowing on the food while reciting a verse, a common enough practice meant to ward off 'the evil eye' among some Muslims.

This directive is also part of the anti-halal campaign undertaken by Hindutvawadis over the last few years. Both the Uttarakhand and UP directives specifically ban items marked halal on the kanwar yatra route.

Surely these governments know that halal certification is a must if one wants to export food items to the Gulf? As a Kerala high court judgment pointed out (external link), all it means is that no item forbidden by Islamic law has gone into the making of this product.

It appears that the very idea that any law other than Hindu law should be given importance in a 'Hindu country' is unbearable for the BJP and its supporters. Last year, Yogi Adityanath's government tried to ban non-meat products which had halal certification.

Gaurav C Sawant also argued that if Muslims can insist on halal, why can't Hindus insist on food of their choice, which means, in this context, food untouched by Muslims. This man is a senior executive editor of a leading media organisation.

It should be recalled that it was in UP that a Muslim child was thrashed by the head of a temple for drinking water from a matka kept in the compound; that in Delhi, a Muslim youth was lynched because he ate a banana kept as part of prasad.

Yet, this is a country where poets of both religions have written verses in praise of each other's gods. But that's the history the ruling party wants to erase.

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What must the many Nisars and Sajids be thinking as they put up banners and boards displaying their names? All along, they assumed this was as much their country. Will they be able to feel they belong any longer?

With their names up on display in this 'New India', one hopes they remain safe from the wrath of kanwariyas, who are known to be quick to take offence. Will the sight of a Muslim vendor on their route become a red rag?

There is one way to defeat the intention behind this directive: To patronise Muslim establishments that have been forced to identify themselves. This is one opportunity for the Congress to show that the 'mohabbat ki dukaan' its leader talks about does exist.

Can Akhilesh Yadav, who has asked the court to take note of this directive, order his party members to do this? His Samajwadi Party represents Muzaffarnagar now, with Harendra Singh Malik having defeated hatemonger Sanjeev Balyan in the recent Lok Sabha elections.

Will Mayawati, who has criticised the order, instruct her loyal flock to patronise the community she has always trying to woo in elections?

Forget political parties. Surely citizens' groups working for communal harmony can do this?