Leftists gloat over SC's stay on orders to eateries on Kanwar Yatra route to display owners' names

New Delhi: The CPI and the CPI(M) on Monday welcomed the Supreme Court's decision imposing an interim stay on directives passed by the Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand governments that eateries along the Kanwar Yatra route must display the names of their owners.

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) also described the directives of the two state governments as "communal" and "divisive".

"Supreme Court in a most welcome judgment has stayed the utterly communal, divisive Manuvadi order of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand governments to display names of all shop owners along the Kanwaria route," the CPI(M) said in a post on X.

CPI(M) Politburo member Brinda Karat said the directives were divisive and communal.

"It is a very welcome intervention by the Supreme Court and its interim order staying what we consider an utterly divisive, communal and Manuvadi order of the Uttar Pradesh government, followed by the Uttarakhand government," Karat told PTI.

"The double-engine governments with their double-engine communalism and Manuvad, which would have further caused demeaning humiliation of Indian citizens because of their religion and also may have been because of their caste," she said, referring to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) being in power at the Centre as well as in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand.

"It is a good thing what the Supreme Court has said that Kanwariyas would like to know that the food they are eating is vegetarian or non-vegetarian. It is the name of the food, not the names of the owners or employees or their religious identity," Karat said.

"This is really a slap in the face of the Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand governments," she added.

The Communist Party of India (CPI) too lauded the apex court's order.

"CPI welcomes Supreme Court's interim stay on the highly-discriminatory and anti-constitutional orders issued by many BJP-ruled states asking vendors along the routes of Kanwar Yatra to display the names of owners and employees," general secretary of the party D Raja said in a post on X.

"Our Constitution envisaged a society with equality for all. The RSS' ideology stands opposite to the vision of the Constitution by treating minorities as foreigners, Dalits at the bottom of the 'Varna System' and women as subjects of patriarchy. Many BJP governments are furthering this ideology instead of upholding the Constitution," he alleged.

"As the CPI had pointed out earlier, these orders were an attempt at segregating and excluding minorities and Dalits, in line with the RSS ideology. RSS-BJP must learn to abide by the Constitution and shed its communalism and Manuvad. Attempts at fuelling divisions will be defeated by the people," Raja added.

The Supreme Court on Monday imposed an interim stay on the directives passed by the Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand governments that eateries along the Kanwar Yatra route must display the names of their owners.

A bench of Justices Hrishikesh Roy and S V N Bhatti issued notices to the Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Madhya Pradesh governments while seeking their replies on pleas challenging the directives.

The Kanwar Yatra started from Monday. During the pilgrimage, a large number of devotees travel from various places with "kanwars" carrying holy water from the Ganga to perform "jalabhishek" of Shivlings during the Hindu calendar month of "Shravan".