New Delhi: The Congress slammed the BJP over the Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand government’s orders asking food stall owners along the religious Kanwariya Yatra route to display their names. The directive to the food stall owners along the route was issued in both UP and Uttarakhand where the Kanwar Yatra passes through.
The Congress said the move was divisive, promoted identity politics and was aimed at polarising people and had been made to deflect public attention from burning issues like unemployment and price rise of essential items and distress among the farmers.
The grand old party further pointed out that the saffron party had not learnt any lessons after its drubbing in the Lok Sabha polls in UP and even BJP allies like JD-U and RLD had slammed the move asking food stall owners to display their names. Congress Lok Sabha from Saharanpur in western UP Imran Masood said the BJP was pursuing its narrow-minded politics despite recent setbacks in the state.
"The dresses put on by the Kanwariyas are made by the Muslim artisans in Saharanpur but that has never been an issue. Whenever the Kanwariyas pass through a Muslim village, they are given a nice reception. The BJP never talks about the plight of farmers who are planning to reach Delhi to stage protests or the youth who need jobs. It has nothing else to showcase in terms of policy achievements. Hence, it is forced to play divisive politics but that is not going to work for them,” Masood told ETV Bharat.
"The order to bring out the names of Muslim food stall owners is a silly move and they will achieve nothing by it," he added. All India Congress Committee (AICC) functionary Qazi Nizamuddin said the BJP was up to its old trick again.
"The BJP is back to its original formula. They haven’t learnt any lessons from the Lok Sabha results and are going back to their original formula which is to divide people. You can’t expect more from them but people are now wiser," Qazi told ETV Bharat.
Qazi, who is also an MLA from the Manglaur constituency in Uttarakhand, said that a large number of bamboo frames, which the Kanwariyas carry holy water pots, are made by Muslim artisans in the area.
"I am sure the bureaucracy would have been guided by some legal view before coming out with such an order," said Qazi, adding, "The allies were opposing the orders to address their constituencies.”
According to Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate, the people had rejected negative politics but the BJP had still not learnt the lesson.
"The people have rejected their negative politics and brought down their Lok Sabha tally by 63 seats. Even their allies like RLD and JD-U are now demanding a roll-back of such orders. What are they doing, what kind of society is being created? All this is being done so people don’t ask about jobs and prices and reduction in education budgets which are affecting households. They only want to play divisive politics. They are the same people who did not even spare the Hindus and said the community should be boycotted after losing the Ayodhya Lok Sabha election," she said.
