In recent years, it has become ritualistic for the leftist media cabal to vilify Kanwariyas and Kanwar Yatra, in their ideological pursuit of peddling Muslim victimhood and their perverted idea of secularism. While the likes of The Wire indulge in explicit Hinduphobic propaganda, The Indian Express veils their identical manoeuvres with layers of nuance.
On the last day of this year’s Kanwar Yatra, 11th August, The Indian Express published an opinion piece headlined, “The problem isn’t the kanwar yatra. It’s a patronising state”.
Beginning with how upper-middle-class and car owner view Kanwariyas as a traffic nightmare and a threat to safety, author Aakash Joshi comes to the real agenda. The author argues that since 2014, essentially with the coming of the BJP in power at the Centre, government authorities have been “trying to “facilitate” the yatris.”
“In doing so, they are not only undermining the secular foundations of the Indian state — the Union of India has no religion — they are also falling into an old trap, which is both dangerous for the Republic and patronising to the believer,” The Indian Express article reads.
Floral showers on Kanwariyas by administrative officials undermine Indian Express’s idea of secularism
How is it that facilitating Kanwar Yatra for Hindus ‘undermines’ India’s secular foundations but the government facilitating and even offering subsidies to Muslims for Haj is not?
How is it that ministers of ‘secular’ (read Muslim-appeasing) political parties organising or partaking in Iftar parties does not undermine secularism? Does showering flowers on Kanwariyas alone undermine India’s secular foundations?
While it is true that the Union of India has no official or state religion, India’s foundation is rooted in Hindu consciousness. Without a Hindu majority, India would, without a scintilla of doubt, lose its legal and, in spirit, secular character.
The article further claims that after 2014, governments are not just facilitating the Kanwar Yatra but are “imposing assumed taboos and even prejudices.”
By ‘governments’, the author specifically meant the BJP governments. The article laments the 2023 decision of the BJP governments in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand to ban sales of non-vegetarian food along the Kanwar Yatra route.
Government directions to shopkeepers to display proprietor name is ‘dog whistle’ against ‘minorities’: For Indian Express, basic transparency is ‘attack on Muslims’
Aakash Joshi described the government orders to shopkeepers and eateries to display their proprietor’s name as “a dog whistle to food segregation and against minority-owned and run businesses.”
How is displaying proprietor’s name a dog whistle? Kanwariyas are free to purchase fruits and other goods from anyone, and the government’s directions to put the names of the street vendors and the hotel owners on their boards were for all and not specifically for Muslims.
There have been numerous incidents wherein Muslims were found to be running shops with the names of Hindu deities, giving an impression that the shop is owned and run by Hindus; however, upon paying via UPI, which displays the real name of the user, it turned out that the shop belonged to a Muslim person. Why this subterfuge, if intentions are right?
How can basic transparency be deemed a dog whistle? Will Aakash Joshi be fine with Hindus selling pork in a Muslim-dominated area during Ramzan, Muharram, or Eid?
It is amusing that the same liberal coterie that describes a mere call to mention the proprietor’s name as religious discrimination, segregation and whatnot shamelessly defends the exclusionary Halal certification of a vast range of products.
There have been instances of Muslim-owned shops being caught spitting on the food or fruits and vegetables they sell. In such a situation, not only Kanwariyas during Sawan but Hindus otherwise also would want to be cautious and informed about who is serving them food.
The article draws a contrast that on one hand, Muslim shopkeepers are being arrested for selling non-veg food along the Kanwar Yatra route, on the other, the senior police officials are showering flower petals on Kanwariyas.
“Has there been an outpouring of demand to target Muslim businesses from the young pilgrims? Have they demanded floral showers?” the author asks.
The Hindu Kanwariyas have certainly demanded ‘targeting’ of Muslim businesses; they have also not demanded floral showers.
During the Kanwar Yatra in the holy month of Sawan, Kanwariyas maintain a Sattvic diet and strictly refrain from even visiting non-veg eateries, let alone consuming non-veg. It is for this reason that food compatibility was implemented along the Yatra route. Is all secularism, accommodation, and adjustment for communal harmony reserved only for Hindus?
It is also interesting that liberals never show such outpour of concern for targeting of one community to appease other when Muslims attack Kanwariyas, pelt stones, or obstruct their path.
“A kanwar yatri is no less a citizen, no less rational and no less demanding of their government than the student protestor in Jantar Mantar and Jharkhand. To use their devotion as an excuse for exclusion and targeting minorities, to deify them with floral symbolism, is to act in bad faith,” the IE article reads.
Floral showers by state officials only signify respect and are cultural symbolism; this gesture is deification of Kanwariyas. Even the supposed ‘Hindu hardliner’ and ‘Islamophobic’ Modi government garlands Haj pilgrims before departure to Saudi Arabia. Does this mean the ‘Hindutva’ government mocks rationality, intellect, and uses their devotion for political optics despite knowing that Muslims largely never vote for the BJP?
Amusingly, the Indian Express also has a problem with Shiv Bhakt Kanwariyas ‘revelling’. In fact, Aakash Joshi wants the ‘powers’ to ask why Kanwariyas revel, why they undertake the Yatra, and what they pray for.
“Perhaps, the powers should listen to the pilgrims — ask them why the release of religious revelry matters so much to them, why they undertake the journey, what they pray for when they do. Then, maybe, they might do what governments are supposed to, instead of believing that pandering is the only politics the pious understand,” the article adds.
One wonders if The Indian Express editor would ask why raising ‘Sar Tan Se Juda’ slogans in Muharram processions matters to Muslims so much, why they remain adamant about slaughtering cows on Bakrid despite no religious compulsion, why they even take out their Juloos, and what they pray for when they offer namaz by blocking roads. Patronising cuts both ways.
Floral showers on Kanwariyas or ensuring that the sanctity of their Yatra is not violated does not amount to insulting their rationality. Patronising cuts both ways. History of independent India is witness to which community has relied on pandering and appeasement by the country’s ‘secular’ parties and government and which community has been subjected to constant neglect, mockery, scrutiny, and villainization.
