‘Good verdict to maintain communal harmony’: BJP ally JD(U) on Supreme Court’s interim order on kanwar yatra and food joints

Asked about the Centre saying no to special status category state status for Bihar in response to a question from JD(U) MP Rampreet Mandal, Tyagi said, “It was an old question. Special status is anyway decided at the National Development Council, which does not hold its meetings these days. We do not read too much into this as the Centre has reiterated its old stance on the matter.” Tyagi said they have demanded either special status or “any package equivalent” to it.

He also responded to the Supreme Court prohibiting the enforcement of the Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand directives to eateries along the route of the Kanwar yatra to display the names of the owners. “Now that the Supreme Court has stayed the orders of the UP and Uttarakhand governments, it only endorses our point of review. The court has given a very good verdict on the need to maintain communal harmony. We do not need to add more to it.”

The Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), a BJP ally at the Centre and in UP, also said that the Supreme Court order had put a stamp on what the party has been saying. RLD national secretary Anupam Mishra told The Indian Express: “The honourable Supreme Court order has come. I have been saying that the order related to the kanwar yatra was related to food items. I had said that restaurants must be marked if they are vegetarian and non-vegetarian. If such an arrangement is made, no one would have an issue. The Supreme Court has put its stamp on what we had said. While staying the UP order, the court has said that only food item details will be displayed till the next hearing. This is a good decision. We will request the state government to ensure that the court order is implemented and to find a way which hurts no community or person in society.”

RLD chief Jayant Chaudhary had on Sunday said the police move was unnecessary and the decision was “not taken after a lot of thought”. Kanwar yatris don’t check religion of people before accepting “sewa” from them, he said.