News18
As per the order, hotels, dhabas and roadside eateries along the Kanwar Yatra route have been asked to display their owners’ names, addresses and phone numbers. (Representative image/PTI)
News18 visited certain prominent eateries along the Kanwar Yatra route on Muzaffarnagar-Haridwar highway to gauge the response to the advisory on displaying owners’ names. While some had placed Muslim staff on leave, others went a step further and displayed even Aadhaar card of their employees
Days after Muzaffarnagar Police asked all eateries along the Kanwar Yatra route to display their owners’ names, the Uttar Pradesh government is extending the controversial order across the state. Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, too, said similar instructions are already in place in the hill state.
As per the order in Muzaffarnagar, hotels, dhabas and roadside eateries along the yatra route have been asked to display their owners’ names, addresses and mobile phone numbers. The Muzaffarnagar police said earlier this week that its advisory earlier this week for the duration of the Kanwar Yatra was aimed at avoiding any “confusion”.
“This has been done to ensure that there is no confusion among kanwariyas and no law-and-order situation arises. All are following this voluntarily,” district police chief Abhishek Singh told reporters then.
The order has been heavily criticised by opposition parties who say it targets Muslim traders.
News18 visited certain prominent eateries along the Kanwar Yatra route to gauge the response of establishment owners and workers to the order. Our first stop was ‘Delhi Dhaba’ on the Muzaffarnagar-Haridwar highway. The proprietor of the dhaba said they had not only displayed the owner’s name but had also displayed the names of all employees working there along with their phone numbers. All of the names displayed are Hindus.
The second dhaba News18 visited was the ‘Shiva Tourist Dhaba’ along the same route. The owner of the eatery had gone one step ahead of the order and had displayed the Aadhaar cards of all the employees working at the restaurant. All of them were Hindus.
Asked if he had employed any Muslims at the dhaba, the owner said four Muslim employees used to work there but had either been placed on leave or terminated from employment. When News18 asked him for the reason behind such an action, the dhaba owner said he was asked by “the administration and local police” to make sure no Muslim employees were present at the establishment for the next 15 days. The administration, however, denies putting forth such conditions.
In another eatery, ‘Veer Ji Da Dhaba’, the Muslim owner Ibrar said he is happy with the directive since “it is upto the customer to decide where they want to eat and where not”. But he added that he feared losing business and customers for the next few days. He employs seven Muslims and nine Hindus at his dhaba. “In all likelihood, I will close the dhaba for a few days and will go on a vacation as anyhow business is going to be slow,” he told News18.
News18 also spoke to a group of Kanwar Yatris for their reaction since the order was issued for them. Most yatris said they are happy with the decision, saying it will help them make an informed choice, while a few others said it does not matter where they eat since devotion comes first. However, the one issue all of them said should be looked into is the alleged price exploitation by dhaba owners during yatra season. Several yatris said dhaba owners tend to raise the prices of food and water during the season.