'Miscreants infiltrate Kanwariyas': Yogi threatens action on those trying to 'defame' them, showers flowers

'We have CCTV footage of all the incidents….all those who join the group in the garb of hooligans and have tried to defame the yatra will be unmasked', Yogi said.

Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Sunday cautioned the ‘kanwarias’ (devotees carrying pitchers filled with sacred Ganga waters to be offered at Shiva temple during the Hindu month of Shravana against what he said ‘attempts to ‘defame’ the kanwar yatra even as a group of kanwarias allegedly brutally assaulted a CRPF jawan at Mirzapur railway station following an altercation over boarding a train.

Adityanath warned that anyone found to be indulging in unlawful activities would be acted against after the yatra was over.

Addressing a group of kanwarias after showering flowers over them, Adityanath said that posters of those indulging in violence would be pasted on the walls and stern action would be taken against them.

Adityanath claimed these are "miscreants" who infiltrate kanwar groups and bring them bad names.

‘’We have CCTV footage of all the incidents….all those who join the group in the garb of hooligans and have tried to defame the yatra will be unmasked,’’ he added.

‘’Don’t allow the hooligans to enter your groups…don’t take law into your hands and instead inform the administration about such people,’’ the chief minister said.

Adityanath’s remarks came after a CRPF jawan was allegedly kicked and punched by a group of kanwarias at Mirzapur railway station on Sunday. The incident happened when the jawan was waiting to board A train to reach Manipur to join his duty after completing his leave, police said.

Three kanwarias were taken into custody in connection with the incident, sources said.

A few days back the chief minister had slammed attempts to what he said label the kanwarias as ‘hooligans’ and ‘terrorists’.

His remarks came amid reports of ‘kanwarias’ going on the rampage on the kanwar routes in Uttar Pradesh and the neighboring Uttarakhand over minor incidents that have been pouring unabated since the kanwar yatra began a few days back.