Ahead of the 10-day Navratri festival beginning on October 3, a municipal corporation in Madhya Pradesh passed a resolution stating that all business persons have to display their ID cards in front of their shops.
The Ratlam municipal corporation passed a resolution on September 23 in an advisory board meeting under the leadership of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) mayor Prahlad Patel.
“In view of the 10-day Navrati mela, every shopkeeper has to display their name in front of their shops,” read the resolution. The resolution is in direct violation of the Supreme Court’s July order which said that shopkeepers or eatery owners don’t need to display their names.
During this year’s Kanwar Yatra, the Uttar Pradesh government issued a directive for all shopkeepers, including fruit and vegetable vendors and restaurant owners to display their names in front of their establishments. The issue came to light when the Muzaffarnagar district sent notices to display which religious community they belonged to.
Police responded to the notice saying their primary objective was to create a peaceful Kanwar Yatra.
The incident created massive outrage describing it as discriminatory to shopkeepers belonging to other religious communities and a direct violation of Article 17 of the Indian Constitution.
On July 22, the Supreme Court passed an interim order ruling out the UP government’s directive of compelling shopkeepers and restaurant owners to display their names during the Kanwar Yatra.
Issuing notice to the governments of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Madhya Pradesh, where the Ujjain municipal body has issued a similar directive, a bench of Justices Hrishikesh Roy and SVN Bhatti, however, said eateries may be required to display the kind of food they are serving like they are vegetarian or non-vegetarian.
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