UP Government Playing A Dangerous Game
Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator.
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By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2024-09-28 06:12:54
About the Author
Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator.
View all posts by this Author
During the Kanwar Yatra ealier this year, the UP police had issued an order asking all eatery owners along the Kanwar route to prominently display their ID cards in their premises/stalls. Although the reason given was to introduce transparency and let the Kanwariyas make an informed choice about the food they ate, it was clearly an attempt at religious segregation of businesses which would hurt minority eatery owners. Fortunately, the order was stayed by the Supreme Court. Not to be deterred, the UP government has now come out with another order, this time backed by a rule in the Food Safety & Standards Act, 2006, to order all eatery owners across the state to display their IDs in similar fashion. The given reason this time is transparency and prevention of food adulteration. But the real reason remains the same - an attempt to inform Hindus that they should look for ownership details and refrain from eating in Muslim-owned eateries.
What was more surprising was that hardly has the news of this come out that Himachal Pradesh, ruled by a Congress government, also decided to enforce such a rule. Although the Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu government distanced itself from the statement by PWD and Urban Development minister Vikramaditya Singh and said that no such rule was being contemplated, it only showed how deep the divide is in the state Congress over such issues.
As for the rule, does eatery ownership mean anything when most of the cooks, kitchen helpers and waiters, along with a sizeable numbers of suppliers, in almost all restaurants across India, are Muslims? Will the BJP next come out with a rule that Hindu eatery owners can employ only Hindus and source all materials from Hindu suppliers? The absurdity of any such rule is evident and the BJP and the Congress should refrain from issuing such divisive orders.
