Muzaffarnagar (UP), Jul 17 (PTI) Police here have ordered that all eateries on the Kanwar Yatra route should display names of owners to avoid any "confusion", a move seen by the opposition parties as targeting Muslim traders.

Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera called the order "state-sponsored bigotry". AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi compared it to Apartheid and Judenboykott, the boycott of Jewish businesses in Hitler's Germany.

Muzaffarnagar police chief Abhishek Singh on Monday said, "Preparations of Sawan month have started in the district. About 240 km of Kanwar Yatra route falls in the district. All the eateries, including hotels, dhabas and carts, on the route have been asked to display the names of their proprietors or those working on these shops." "This has been done to ensure that there should be no confusion among kanwariyas and no law and order situation arises. All are following this voluntarily," he had told reporters.

Both the Congress and the AIMIM have shared a video of the Singh's media byte regarding his order.

In a post on X, Khera said, "Not just political parties, all right thinking people and the media must rise against this state sponsored bigotry. We cannot allow the BJP to push the country back into dark ages." AIMIM leader Owaisi said in his post in Hindi on X, "As per the order of Uttar Pradesh Police, now every food shop or cart owner will have to put his name on the board so that no Kanwariya buys anything from a Muslim shop by mistake. This was called Apartheid in South Africa and in Hitler's Germany it was called 'Judenboycott'." On July 9, the VHP claimed that Muslims are selling puja items at various Hindu pilgrimage sites by "concealing" their identity and urged all state governments to take effective steps to prevent them from running such shops "so that the faith of Hindus is not hurt".

In a statement, Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) secretary general Bajrang Bagra also appealed to people to remain vigilant and immediately inform the local administration if they find anyone from the minority community selling puja items near temples and other Hindu religious sites. PTI ABN ABN KVK KVK

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