Police in Uttar Pradesh’s Muzaffarnagar have asked eateries and food stalls along the kanwar yatra route to display the names of their owners and employees to prevent “confusion” among devotees.

This comes weeks after Muzaffarnagar BJP MLA Kapil Dev Aggarwal said Muslims must not name their shops after Hindu deities during the yatra to avoid any conflict.

UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath had earlier banned the sale and purchase of meat in the open along the kanwar routes in the state as a mark of “respect” for devotees. The state government has imposed similar bans during previous yatras. Such curbs were also put in place in several other areas across the country, including parts of the national capital, during Navratri.

In recent years, there have also been calls by right-wing groups for an economic boycott of Muslims.

Meanwhile, certain sections of the media claimed the problem is due to vendors “hiding their identity”.

This year’s yatra will begin on Monday.

Eatery owners in Muzaffarnagar told The Indian Express that the orders are being enforced. A tea stall owner in Khatauli said he changed the name of his establishment from Chai Lover’s Point to Waqeel Sahab Tea Stall. He claimed that officials told him this was not clear enough, so he again changed it to Waqeel Ahmad Tea Stall.

Congress leader Pawan Khera criticised the announcement made by the Muzaffarnagar police, saying “not just political parties, all right thinking people and the media must rise against this state-sponsored bigotry”.

AIMIM chief and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi said the Muzaffarnagar police’s direction was given so that “no kanwariya buys anything from a Muslim shop by mistake” and likened it to apartheid in South Africa and discrimination against Jews in Nazi Germany.

Complaining about the media is easy. Why not do something to make it better? Support independent media and subscribe to Newslaundry today.