The
Supreme Court on Monday stayed the controversial directive issued to shops
placed along the Kanwar Yatra route in Uttar Pradesh, asking them to display
the names of their owners.
“Until
the returnable date, having regard to the ... discussion, we deem it
appropriate to pass an interim order prohibiting the enforcement of the above
directives,” said a bench of Justices Hrishikesh Roy and SVN Bhatti, noting
that the traders may be required to display the kind of food that would served
but not the owners’ names.
Besides UP, the court has issued the notice to
Madhya Pradesh, Delhi and all the states where the yatra crosses. The order
followed as the court was hearing a batch of petitions on the issue, moved by
activists and Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra.
The TMC leader argued that requiring disclosure of
the names under the ground of respecting pilgrims’ dietary choices, “makes it
clear that dietary choices is a pretext, or a proxy, for the compelled
disclosure of personal – and, in this case, religious – identity.” The matter
will be next heard on July 26.
The directive was extended to the entire UP on
Friday by the Yogi Adityanath government, triggering a political row over the
issue. To be clear, the UP government has not issued a formal order on this
matter.
The Opposition alleged that the order had
discriminatory intentions towards Muslim shopkeepers. Moitra, in her plea
against the UP and Uttarakhand governments, said that such orders aggravate
discord between communities.
The
UP government’s extensions followed days after the Muzaffarnagar police first
issued the directive asking all eateries along the Kanwar Yatra route to
display their owners’ name.
In
Hinduism, Kanwar Yatra is an annual pilgrimage that commences with the start of
the Sawan month in the Hindu calendar. This year, Sawan started on July 22.
Considered a very pious tour, during the yatra millions of devotees of the
Hindu God Shiva carry holy water from the Ganges in Haridwar to their homes.