Covers were removed from mosques and shrines on Haridwar Kanwar route, police said it happened by mistake
#News Bureau July 28, 2024
Two mosques and a shrine located on the route of the ongoing Kanwar Yatra in Haridwar were covered with large white sheets on Friday morning. By evening, the district administration had the sheets removed. Police said what happened was a mistake.
The Haridwar administration claimed that they had not issued any order to put up the sheets. While Haridwar district in-charge minister Satpal Maharaj said that the measure was taken to prevent any disturbance and ensure that the Kanwar Yatra continues smoothly. However, it is a fact that religious places of Muslims were covered with sheets.
The Yatra route in Haridwar passes through the Jwalapur area of the city, where mosques and tombs are located. This is the first time in the history of Haridwar that mosques and tombs have been covered with sheets so that the Kanwadis do not see them.
Minister Satpal Maharaj said, “This is so that there is no agitation and no one gets agitated. Care has been taken to ensure that our Kanwar Yatra runs smoothly. When a building is constructed, it is also covered… We have done the same here and will see what the reaction is. We will study it.”
However, Haridwar Superintendent of Police (city) Swatantra Kumar told the media that there was no order to do so. Neither from the district administration nor the police. He did not have an answer to the question as to how this happened again. The SP said, “We have also spoken to the concerned party (Muslims) and removed the covers. We have also spoken to the locals. Barricades were being put up on the yatra route, there must have been some mistake in that, due to which the covers were put up. It was not intentional.”
Criticising the order to cover the religious place, Congress leader and former minister Naeem Qureshi said, “We Muslims always welcome Shiv bhakts for the Kanwar fair and arrange refreshments for them at various places. This has been an example of harmony among Hindus. There has never been a tradition among Muslims in Haridwar to cover with curtains like this.”
Uttarakhand Congress vice-president Suryakant Dhasmana said, “The order to put curtains on mosques and mausoleums on the Kanwar Yatra route in Haridwar district, whoever issued it, is against the Supreme Court which had stayed the order that asked hotel and restaurant owners and fruit vendors on the route to display their name, caste and religious identity.” Other Congress leaders in Uttarakhand also condemned it, saying that covering mosques and mausoleums is a defamation of the Supreme Court.
