The holy month of Sawan begins on July 22 and so will the journey of Kanwariyas. Police in Muzaffarnagar have ordered all eateries on the Kanwar Yatra route to display the names of their owners to avoid any “confusion”, a move seen by opposition parties as targeting Muslim traders. The decision has been criticised by politicians and members of civil society.

Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Thursday said the Muzaffarnagar police order asking eateries located on the Kanwar Yatra route to display the names of their owners was a “social crime” and asked the courts to take suo motu cognizance of the matter. Reacting to a news article on the order, Yadav wrote on Twitter, “…and what if the owner's name is Guddu, Munna, Chhotu or Fatte? What can you infer from these names?” “The honourable court should take suo motu cognizance of the matter and examine the intent of the government and take appropriate punitive action,” the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister said.

Muzaffarnagar police chief Abhishek Singh said on Monday, “About 240 km of the Kanwar Yatra route falls in the district. All the eateries including hotels, dhabas and carts located on the route have been asked to display the names of their owners or those working at these shops. This has been done to ensure that the devotees do not face any problem.”

There should be no confusion among the Kanwadis and no law and order situation should arise. Everyone is following this voluntarily.”

AIMIM leader Owaisi said in his post in Hindi on Twitter, “As per the order of Uttar Pradesh police, now every food shop or thela wala will have to write their name on the board so that no Kanwariya buys anything from a Muslim shop even by mistake. This was called apartheid in South Africa and in Hitler's Germany it was called 'Judenboycott'.”