Saffron activists booked for trying to strip eatery staff to verify religion in Karwar

Lucknow: Alleged attempt by members of a saffron outfit to strip some workers of a roadside eatery on the Kanwar Yatra route in Uttar Pradesh’s communally sensitive Muzaffarnagar district to verify their religion triggered a huge controversy prompting the police to register a case against them.

The incident comes close on the heels of the state government’s directive that the eateries along the Kanwar Yatra routes will have to mention the names of owners after saffron outfits claimed that many eateries, which had Hindu names, were owned by the Muslims.

According to the reports, a saffron outfit, under the leadership of Swami Yashveer Maharaj, has deployed hundreds of its members to check if there was any roadside eatery on the Yatra route which had a Hindu name but was operated by a Muslim.

During checking the members of the outfit reportedly found after scanning the barcode at an eatery ‘Panditji Ka Dhaba’ that the owner was a Muslim. The saffron activists asked the eatery staff to show their Aadhar Cards and when one of the workers failed to produce the same, they allegedly tried to strip him to verify his religion.

The matter came to light after a video purportedly showing the saffron activists conducting a checking at the eatery and the claim by the worker went viral on social media.

Police later booked six people in connection with the incident and have summoned them for questioning, reports said.

Swami Yashveer, however, warned that he would launch a state wide agitation if there was any action against the activists. ‘’We will, under no circumstances, allow the Muslims to operate eateries along the Yatra route,’’ he said.

Police said that they were trying to identify the alleged offenders and added that they would be acted against in accordance with the law.

Kanwar Yatra is an annual pilgrimage during the Hindu month of Shravan undertaken by the devotees of Lord Shiva during which they fill their pitchers with the sacred Ganga waters and travel to famous Shiva temples to offer the same there.