Prior to the Kanwar pilgrimage in Uttar Pradesh, food and fruit vendors in Muzaffarnagar have complied with the police directive to display their names, aiming to avoid confusion. The move has sparked political debate, with opposition leaders including Samajwadi Party's Akhilesh Yadav voicing objections, while even BJP ally JDU disagrees with the implementation. JDU's KC Tyagi urges the district administration to reassess this decree and not extend it to other districts.
KC Tyagi questions the circumstances under which these directives were issued given the absence of any history of communal violence in these Muslim-majority areas. He recommends a review of the order and advises against its application across other UP districts.
Darul Uloom spokesperson Maulana Sufiyan Nizami criticizes the decree, questioning the necessity of identifying shop ownership based on religion. Nizami stresses that no faith discriminates against others and calls for maintaining communal unity instead of creating divisions.
The district police's rule came in light of the upcoming Kanwar Yatra, requiring roadside vendors to display their names clearly. Samajwadi Party head Akhilesh Yadav reacted sharply to this, challenging the effectiveness of such identifiers. He suggested a need for court intervention, labeling the order as socially disruptive.
AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi also reacted, comparing the order to apartheid in South Africa and the 'Judenboycott' in Nazi Germany - both historical instances of discriminatory identification.
