'What hypocrisy', BJP slams Oppn for 'abusing' Hindu sentiments over Kanwar Yatra

New Delhi: BJP's national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla on Thursday lashed out at Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav for criticising the UP government's directive asking eateries along the Kanwar Yatra route to display the names of their owners.

"Display of Halal certification to ensure Muslims' religious feelings are not hurt = Peak Secularism. Request to ALL eateries to comply with law & make proper disclosures of name to ensure that Kanwariyas' Astha is not hurt by false information- Peak Bigotry," the BJP spokesperson wrote in a post on X.

"What hypocrisy," Poonawalla said, stressing that everyone should have the right to choose the food they like during a religious 'yatra'.

"If Muslims can eat at a place which serves Halal food only, other devotees should also be allowed to choose to eat Satvik food during their religious yatra," Poonawalla said.

He also emphasised that "nobody is denying" anyone to sell food on the yatra route or to the yatris if they are "willing to follow all the norms".

Slamming the Opposition for "abusing" the Hindu community, Poonawalla questioned, "Does INDI ALLIANCE have no work but to divide India? Abuse Hindus, call them Hinsak & attack their Astha all the time for Votebank purposes."

His reaction followed the Muzaffarnagar administration's directive to all the eateries and shops along the yatra route to properly display the names of the owners to avoid "confusion" among the Kanwar Yatris.

Stating that such orders would vitiate the peaceful atmosphere, Akhilesh Yadav asked, "What will be known from names like Guddu, Munna, Chhotu, or Fatte?"

The Samajwadi Party chief, who led his party to its best-ever performance in the recent Lok Sabha polls, smelled a "conspiracy" against a particular community and demanded the court to take suo motu cognisance of the order.

"Honourable court should take suo motu cognisance and investigate the intentions of the government behind such administrative order and take appropriate punitive action. Such orders are social crimes, which want to spoil the peaceful atmosphere of harmony," he said in a post on X.

Apart from Akhilesh Yadav, AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi also voiced his anger at the "discriminatory" order and said that this was like "apartheid" (institutionalised racial segregation) in South Africa and 'Judenboycott' (the boycott of Jewish businesses) in Hitler's Germany.

The Kanwar Yatra this year will begin on July 22, the first day of Shravan month. The month-long festival will see people from across the country heading towards Haridwar and Rishikesh to collect water from Ganga, and then offer the same at Shiva temples on returning home.