Kanwar Yatra Controversy: Owaisi vs. BJP on ‘Visceral Hatred’ Claim

Kanwar Yatra Controversy: The decision by the government of Uttarakhand for all the restaurants and stalls alongside the Kanwar Yatra path to display shop owner names outside of their shops has led to a major conflict between All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen leader, Asaduddin Owaisi and BJP chief Sukanta Majumdar.

The opposition parties called the decision “anti-Muslim” and discriminatory.

AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Saturday said that the order shows “visceral hatred” for people of Muslims in India.

In a tweet shared by Asaduddin Owaisi on his X handle said, “Fear on UP's Kanwar routes: This is the reality of hatred for Indian Muslims. Credit for this visceral hatred goes to political parties, leaders of Hindutva, and so-called lip-servicing secular parties.”

In the tweet, he also shared the image of a food stall on the Kanwar Yatra route displaying the name of the owner.

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Despite several criticisms, the decision was spread from Muzaffarnagar to the rest parts of Uttar Pradesh.

However, the West Bengal BJP leader Sukanta Majumdar slammed Owaisi's statement saying that Owaisi is trying to split people u misleading them with these false claims, even though the Samajwadi Party-led government issued a similar decision earlier in the past.

Sukanta Majumdar even calls Owaisi a role player of Muhammad Ali Jinnah who is the founder of Pakistan.

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In a statement, Sukanta Majumdar told ANI, “The Opposition is misleading people and spreading lies. A similar kind of notification was issued during Mulayam Singh Yadav’s government, and Akhilesh Yadav’s government also issued such notifications… it’s a routine exercise and not specific to the Kanwar Yatra.”

“The law requires that names be registered, not identifying anyone by religion… Hindus who eat non-veg go to Muslim shops. In West Bengal, we go to many such shops, which are run by Muslims. The Opposition is trying to divide the people and Asaduddin Owaisi is playing the role of Jinnah."

Majumdar noted that if the United Progressive Alliance government issues a similar order then it is secular and if the BJP does so then it is communal.

When the orders were first issued in Muzaffarnagar, Owaisi claimed that the order was “apartheid” and was just like the "judenboycott" in Hitler's Germany.

However, several other leaders were also against the order, MP Kapil Sibal said, "Kanwar Yatra Route UP directs eateries including roadside carts to display the names of the owners! Is this the route to a "Viksit Bharat"? Divisive agendas will only Divide the country!"

Furthermore, Maulana Arshad Madani, the president of Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind in a tweet said, "The issue of displaying of religious identification of vendors on the Kanwar yatra route. it is A new game of politics of hatred in the guise of religion. Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind called a meeting of the legal team tomorrow to discuss the legal aspects of this order. Now it seems that the order of the ruler is the constitution and the law?"

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