On Saturday, amid the Kanwar Yatra, a report by Dainik Bhasker surfaced claiming that a Muslim man named Babu Khan was abandoned by the local Masjid in Baghpat, Uttar Pradesh for participating in the Kanwar Yatra. Khan, fascinated by the Kanwar Yatra, decided to be a part of it in the year 2018. Babu Khan of Baghpat lifts Kanwar from Har ki Pauri in Haridwar.
“When I first went to get the Kanwar, there was a lot of fighting in the house. I was also boycotted, and thrown out of the mosque. For this, I fought a legal battle and many who boycotted me were sent to jail”, Khan said as he was preparing to lift the Kanwar. 52-year-old Babu Khan is a resident of Ranchad village in Baghpat and is a laborer by profession.
Elaborating his attraction towards the Kanwar Yatra he said, “I am bringing Kanwar from the year 2018. The Kanwar then was in the name of Lord Shiva. In 2019, the second Kanwar that I lifted was in the name of Parvati Mata. I am taking this third Kanwar today which is in the name of Lord Ganesha”.
Speaking exclusively to the Dainik Bhasker reporter, Khan added that earlier he was a truck driver in Azadpur Mandi in Delhi. “This was in 2018. At that time the Kanwar Yatra was going on. When I reached near Kairana police post, it was jammed. Thousands of Kanwariyas were walking ahead. It is then that a thought came to my mind that if I was also a Kanwariya, I would have been bringing Kanwar in the same way”, he added.
It is worth mentioning that after Khan fought the legal battle against the people who boycotted him, the local Mosque allowed Khan to enter the premises. As of today, Babu Khan, who is on his way with the Kanwar from Haridwar, follows the routine of offering Namaz in his village Mosque at 5 am and then cleaning the Shiv temple in Baghpat. Babu Khan says, ” I have not left Islam, I only believe in bringing Kanwars. That’s why I come to Haridwar every year to get Kanwar’s”.
The Dainik Bhasker in its ground report also published a special Kanwar which was being carried by the Kanwariyas to Kalka, Delhi. The Kanwar as reported has been adorned with 80 feet long tricolor and 80 feet long Sri Ram Mandir model. The photographs of revolutionaries like Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev, and Rajguru were also attached to the tricolor Kanwar.
The Kanwar Yatra is an annual pilgrimage of devotees of Shiva, known as Kanwariyas, to Hindu pilgrimage places of Haridwar, Gaumukh, and Gangotri in Uttarakhand and Sultanganj in Bihar to fetch the holy waters of the Ganges River. Millions of participants gather sacred water from the Ganga and carry it across hundreds of miles to dispense as offerings in their local Shiva shrines, or specific temples such as Pura Mahadeva and Augharnath temple in Meerut, and Kashi Vishwanath, Baidyanath, and Deoghar in Jharkhand.
The Kanwar Yatra is an annual journey made by followers of Shiva, often referred to as Kanwariyas, to the Hindu holy cities of Sultanganj in Bihar, Haridwar, Gaumukh, and Gangotri. Thousands of participants collect holy water from the Ganga and travel hundreds of kilometers to distribute it as offerings at their local Shiva shrines or particular temples like Meerut’s Pura Mahadeva and Augharnath temple, or Jharkhand’s Kashi Vishwanath, Baidyanath, and Deoghar. The administration estimates that till July 22, around 1.19 crore Kanwariyas have taken water from the Ganga river.