Hyderabad: AIMIM chief and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi on Wednesday slammed the BJP-led Uttar Pradesh government over its decision to ban the sale of meat on the routes fixed for the Kanwar Yatra.
Owaisi remarked that while Namaz on roads was made illegal and FIRs were registered on Muslims for it, a ban on meat shops for the Kanwar Yatra was also imposed in the name of ‘religious sentiments’ and is a ‘shameful thing’.
“If you offer Namaz on the road, an FIR is registered, but for the Kanwar Yatra, meat shops are being covered and closed. Taking away the right to employment in the name of “religious sentiments” is a shameful thing. @narendramodi Isn’t there “two laws in one country”? Your talk of “equal citizenship” is hypocrisy,” Owaisi said in a tweet.
Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath announcing the decision to ban on open sale of meat in the routes designated for the Yatra said that the decision was taken to ‘respect the belief of devotees’.
“Respecting the belief of devotees, meat should not be allowed to be sold in the open on the Kanwar route. The route should remain clean and sanitised. There should be provision for streetlights. Since the weather is hot, arrangements for drinking water should also be made,” UP CM Yogi Adityanath had said.
A First Information Report (FIR) was registered in Kanpur against 40 persons who offered Namaz on the street on the occasion of Eid-ul-Adha, going against government directions.
Also, more than 2,000 people were booked in three FIRs for offering namaz without permission on a road outside the Eidgah in Kanpur in the month of April during Eid-ul-Fitr.
