Kanwar Yatra news: All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Wednesday questioned the Uttar Pradesh government's special treatment of Kanwar Yatris, by showering petals on them. On Tuesday as well, Owaisi questioned the gesture in a series of tweets, and even outside Parliament today, he brought up the matter and compared it to bulldozing of houses of Muslims.
"BJP-led UP government showering flower petals on Kanwariyas using public money. We want them to treat everyone equally. They don't shower flowers on us (Muslims) instead, they bulldoze our houses," he told the media today. "Treat everybody equally, what happened to 'Sabka Saath Sabka Vishwas'?" he added.
Listing out the kind of special treatments given to Kanwariyas in UP, Owaisi tweeted yesterday, "The police showered petals, "Istaqbal" the kanwariyas with flags, applied lotion to their feet and treated them with kindness. Police talked about the removal of blacksmiths so that the Kanwariyas would not get angry, and the UP government banned meat on the routes of travel."
He compared this to incidents of "ruckus", when a Muslim prays for a few minutes. "Muslims are facing police bullets, custodial clashes, NSA, UAPA, lynchings, bulldozers and sabotage just for being Muslims," he wrote.
"Why this distinction? Shouldn't it be possible? Why hate one and love the other? Why divert traffic for one religion and bulldoze for another?" he questioned.
Senior officials on Sunday showered flower petals on kanwariyas in UP’s Meerut district. Kanwariyas (devotees of Lord Shiva) collect water from the Ganga river at Haridwar, Uttarakhand to offer at Shiva temples in their areas as part of the Kanwar Yatra. District Information Officer Sumit Yadav said the administration had planned to use a helicopter, however, the idea had to be dropped due to bad weather.
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