Despite stay on resolution, ‘Left Madhi with unsold goods’: Vendors who were not allowed stalls for Kanifnath Yatra

On February 22, the Madhi gram sabha had passed a resolution banning Muslim vendors from setting up shops at the festival. The resolution was invalidated by the BDO Shivaji Kamble, citing bogus votes and a lack of quorum.

On March 11, the Aurangabad Bench of the Bombay High Court ordered a stay on the effect, operation and execution of the resolution till April 8 after a writ petition was filed by local Muslims.

Despite all these, Shaikh claimed several Muslim vendors were not allowed to set up stalls at the village.

“We went there at Madhi village on March 13 and 14 and they (village authorities) asked us to fill in application forms. But the forms filled by Muslims were kept separately. Forms of Hindu vendors were accepted and they were allotted space,” Shaikh said.

“The two Hindu traders with us were allowed, and eight of us Muslims were sent home. When we asked them what our fault was, they couldn’t answer. Since my great-grandfather’s time, my family had been going for the Kanifnath Yatra,” he claimed.

Social activist Mansoor Pathan said, “Muslim vendors from the neighbouring villages of Pathardi and Tisgaon go to the festival every year. This time they have not been allowed to set up shops, the authorities kept putting them off. Then two of the vendors set up shops just outside the village on a private property, but they were threatened by some goons, prompting them to leave.” Pathan said that he plans to raise the issue with local authorities.

However, sarpanch Sanjay Markad claimed that this year they have not received any application from Muslim vendors seeking permission to set up stalls for the festival, which began on Holi and will continue till the end of the month.

On March 12, the gram sabha passed another resolution saying that vendors who did not follow “rudi parampara” or traditional practices, would not be allowed to set up shop in the village.

“We could not use the word ‘Muslim’ in our new resolution so we have passed a resolution saying anyone not following ‘rudi parampara’ will not be allowed to set up shop. Muslims do not follow it, therefore they won’t be allowed,” Markad, who is associated with the BJP, told The Indian Express.

He also said that the panchayat had given out around 1,500 shop permits but none to Muslim shopkeepers. Last year, Markad said, around 400 Muslim-owned shops were set up for the Yatra.

The resolution has met with criticisms from many including villagers of Madhi.

Kashinath Patil Lawande, the former sarpanch of Tisgaon and a BJP member, told The Indian Express, “I went to Madhi to convince the sarpanch that he should rethink this decision. For decades, Muslim vendors of our village have been going to Madhi for the Yatra. But the sarpanch told me it was not just upto him to revert the decision.”

Chandrabhan Pakhre, a member of Madhi Panchayat Samiti who is also associated with the BJP, had told The Indian Express earlier that the Yatra has traditionally been attended by people of all religions and that he did not support a resolution banning Muslim people.

Lara Jesani, national secretary of People’s Union for Civil Liberties and a Mumbai-based advocate, told The Indian Express, “The new resolution is nothing but an attempt to subvert the high court’s stay on the earlier resolution barring Muslim vendors. This is an entirely unconstitutional action on the part of the sarpanch, who is making it a communal issue despite the fact that Kanifnath Yatra was being historically attended by members of all religions. The authorities need to act immediately to ensure that Muslim vendors can put up their stalls for the Yatra.”

As many as 34 organisations, including hawker federations, human rights groups, and political party wings, had written a letter to the Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court on March 13 saying that the ban on Muslim vendors was unconstitutional.

They also requested urgent intervention by issuance of directions to local authorities to ensure that Muslim vendors are not prevented from doing business.