As the administration of Muzaffarnagar district in Uttar Pradesh has issued an order asking hotels, dhabas, and carts selling food items to write the name of their proprietors and operators running the shop or cart during Kanwar Yatra, several Islamists are suffering a tremendous meltdown. Although the local administration did not even mention Muslims or any non-Hindu community, some Muslim ‘journalists’ and Islamist sympathizers are accusing the Yogi government of “religious discrimination”. However, in their desperation to do so, these people admit that many of their co-religionists misrepresent their identity posing as Hindus to fool unsuspecting Hindu customers.
Several Muslim ‘journalists’, including Zakir Ali Tyagi and Wasim Akram Tyagi who were recently booked by Shamli Police for peddling false mob lynching claims over the death of a Muslim man, are crying hoarse over the Muzaffarnagar administration’s directive.
In an X post, Wasim Akram Tyagi wrote, “In view of the Kanwar Yatra, the @Uppolice of New India is trying to save the Kanwariyas from this ‘illusion’ that they may get confused and buy things from ‘other’ people’s shops! This step was very necessary to become a ‘Vishguru’!”
Similarly, Zakir Ali Tyagi posted, “Kanawar Yatra will pass through Muzaffarnagar, therefore the administration has asked the fruit vendors to write their names on their carts so that it can be easily identified whether the vendor is a Muslim or not. For many years, appeals are being made in this country to not buy goods from Muslims, even boycott campaigns are going on against them, boycott campaigns and appeals have been pasted on street vendors!”
Another Muslim ‘journalist’ Samiullah Khan went on to accuse the Muzaffarnagar administration of discrimination and equated its directive to Nazism. “Dear Hindus! This is the Nazi model, tell me If we adopt this model in & around the Muslim localities too? ” In UP’s Muzaffarnagar, police ordered hotels and vendors falling on the route of Kanwar Yatra to display the names of the owners in front of their shops” aiming to identify the religion of the owners. Is this so that the Hindu Kanwariyas do not get confused i.e. they should not buy from any Muslims, This is nonsense and highly divisive just like the Nazi era!”
Dear Hindus! This is the Nazi model, tell me If we adopt this model in & around the Muslim localities too?
— Samiullah Khan (@_SamiullahKhan) July 17, 2024
" In UP's Muzaffarnagar, police ordered hotels and vendors falling on the route of Kanwar Yatra to display the names of the owners in front of their shops" aiming to… pic.twitter.com/rPFZElA8FU
It is rather ironic that these Islamists and some Muslim politicians like AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi are equating the administration’s order to simply put the names of the street vendors and the hotel owners on their board with Nazism and hatred for Jews, while their own religion shows least respect for Jews – in fact, it shows very little respect for the right to live of any non-Muslim community.
There is an adage in Hindi “Chor ki daadhi mein tinka” which implies that someone involved in wrongdoing is overcautious or accidentally admits to doing some wrong with his reaction. The entire outrage of Islamists on social media is a perfect example of this adage. Their outrage itself points to the fact that they are admitting that Muslims hide their identity since the administration’s order was not religion-specific. The Muzaffarnagar SSP made it clear that Kanwariyas are free to purchase fruits and other goods from anyone and that the order to put the names of the street vendors and the hotel owners on their board is for all and not specifically for Muslims, as the Islamists are trying to insinuate.
It must be noted here that there have been several 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 Muslim person.
In Uttarakhand, it has been reported by ZeeNews that several Muslim-owned shops and Dhabas were named after Hindu goddess Vaishnodevi. While the dhabas are named after Hindu deities, the food here is prepared by Muslims while unsuspecting Kanwariyas eat food from these eateries. Notably, these Hindu-named but Muslim-owned Dhabas have made special arrangements for Kanwar Yatris on the Kanwar Yatra marg. It would appear that they wish to earn money from Hindus but don’t want to disclose their identity.
Similarly, in Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh, multiple dhabas have been found to be operating under the names of Hindu deities. In one such case, one Muhammad Anas Siddiqui owned the dhaba ‘Janata Vaishno Dhaba’. This dhaba has also made special provisions for visitors on the Kanwar pilgrimage path. In Bareilly as well, some Muslim-owned businesses operate under Hindu names, such as “Chaudhary Sweets.” These businesses use Hindu names to attract Hindu customers.
While eating food from such a place or not is a matter of personal choice, it is questionable why these Muslim shops or eatery owners use the names of Hindu deities to run their businesses. Why this subterfuge? What is the compulsion to deceive people, especially Kanwariyas? While Hindus largely do not check the religion of the owner of a restaurant or a shop owner before visiting, one has to wonder why Muslim vendors feel the need to hide their identity.
Other than basic transparency, dietary compliance is also a crucial concern here. The Kanwariyas, who follow strict dietary restrictions during the holy month of Saawan, need assurance that the eateries they patronize align with their religious and dietary beliefs. The name boards help pilgrims identify compliant eateries and avoid those misrepresenting themselves. As discussed above, there have been instances where owners have put up banners with images of Hindu deities but these establishments were operated by Muslims. How can those who do not maintain transparency of identity be trusted with respecting the religious beliefs and Saatvic dietary preferences of Kanwariyas? Thus, by requiring name boards, the administration aims to prevent such deceit, ensuring that the Kanwariyas can maintain their religious practices without falling prey to misrepresentation.
The directive for vendors to place name boards is a reasonable and necessary step for the effective management of the Kanwar Yatra. It is not discriminatory but rather a pragmatic approach to ensure the event proceeds without any incidents of communal tensions or violence. This further facilitates the Kanwariyas to undertake their Yatra in a setting conducive to the traditions they follow.
Interestingly, the opposition parties leave no opportunity to give any issue a communal angle to target the ruling BJP government in Uttar Pradesh and appease Muslims. In this vein, Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav came up with an absurd argument to oppose the Muzaffarnagar administration’s order saying that what will be identified from names common in Hindus and Muslims like Guddu, Munna, Fattey and Chhotu etc. The supremo of the Samajwadi Party which literally thrives on the “M-Y [Muslim-Yadav] formula, has sought that the court intervene and take action against this ‘social crime’.
“…and what will be known from the name of the one whose name is Guddu, Munna, Chhotu or Fatte? The honorable court should take suo motu cognizance and investigate the intentions of the government behind such administration and take appropriate punitive action. Such orders are social crimes, which want to spoil the peaceful atmosphere of harmony,” Yadav posted.
Instead of demanding transparency from shop owners and vendors who misrepresent their identity, Yadav is indulging in whataboutery. Ironically, when the Yogi government banned the sale of Halal-certified products in the state last year, Akhilesh Yadav opposed the decision and claimed that BJP spreads communal hatred. So while Akhilesh Yadav and so many others are comfortable with the Muslim dietary preference, which is exclusionary and in real terms, discriminates against Hindus, one has to ask is it a Herculean task for Muslims and for that matter anyone to mention the name of the proprietor on the board/banner of their shops and carts, etc?
Such blatant hypocrisy finds its roots in vote bank appeasement politics. While Islamists, their media, and political cheerleaders are arguing against and alleging that if fasting Kanwars prefer to dine or have food items from Hindu sellers, is religious discrimination, they shamelessly and most vehemently defend Halal certification of a vast range of products. It happens only in India that Hindus are labeled communal, an administrative order upholding the religious beliefs of a community during their holy month is called discriminatory while those who permeate religiosity into almost everything and try to impose the same on non-Muslims are called secular, oppressed, and whatnot.
Halal economy despite its discriminatory and exclusionary nature thrives with even Hindus and other non-Muslims most of the time unknowingly contributing to it, is not opposed. Islamists and their sympathizers who obligingly overlook the obvious religious discrimination created by halal certification go around shouting and screaming about “discrimination” when none at all exists, as in this instance where the government has only asked store owners, regardless of religion, to put their names on display. It must be noted here that Islamists oppose anything and everything they see as a perceived threat. It seems that Islamists fear that such mainstreaming of the Saatvic economy may pose a challenge to the monopoly of the Halal economy. When Muslims can have Muslim-only butchers why can’t Hindus have Hindu-only vendors? Also, how is asking to disclose the name of the owner of a shop/eatery etc discriminatory?
In a real incident of religious discrimination, back in 2020, a group of Hindu fruit sellers in Jamshedpur were booked by the city police on complaint of a Muslim man for writing ‘Hindu’ on their shops. The fruit-sellers had written “Vishwa Hindu Parishad ki anumodit Hindu fal Dukan” which translates to “Hindu fruit shop approved by Vishwa Hindu Parishad.” However, no action was taken against Muslim shops and establishments that proudly boasted about their religion. Moreover, in Karnataka, it was reported how Muslim traders forced Hindu traders to shut shops in protest against the Karnataka High Court’s order banning the wearing of hijab in educational institutions. In 2021, it was reported that a Muslim man named Irfan was running an eatery named after “Shrinath” (another name for Lord Krishna) in Mathura prompting Hindus to stage a protest.
While Muslim ‘journalists’ and Islamists, in general, have been desperately passing off random incidents wherein the deceased is Muslim as “mob lynching” by a “Hindutva mob”, they do not want Hindus to be cautious despite several incidents wherein it was found that Muslims sold cow meat stuffed Samosas to Hindu customers despite knowing that Hindus revere cows. OpIndia has numerous such incidents in Gujarat and other states wherein Muslim-owned eateries were selling beef stuffed samosas in the name of veg samosas to Hindus to obviously ridicule and offend the religious beliefs of Hindus.
In fact, there have been instances of Muslim-owned shops being caught spitting on the food or fruits and vegetables they sell. The very Muslim ‘journalists’ and ‘fact-checkers’ outraging today and calling Hindus discriminatory came up with bizarre justifications for the same and somehow labeled the Hindus only as communal and discriminatory.
The truth is that the UP administration order requires Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs – basically people from all religious denominations to display the owners’ names, however, it appears that only the Islamists are outraged over the decision. Their outrage crystalizes the fact that even though they are aware that Muslim vendors do hide their identity and pretend to be Hindu, however, they are aware that crying “discrimination” and “religious persecution” is the easiest way to shield the wrong-doing of the community. Further, it is rather hilarious that the cries of religious discrimination are emanating from the very people who defend the Halal economy as a dietary right of the Muslim community – which is exclusionary. In their outrage, is an admittance of the truth – the fact that according to them, Muslims can be exclusionary as a religious right, however, asking them to be honest about their own identity, just like other vendors, becomes exclusionary in itself.
