Northern India’s discriminatory order against Muslim restaurant owners illustrates nationalist drift

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During the Kanwar Yatra, a Hindu pilgrimage in honor of the god Shiva, east of Delhi (India), July 29, 2024.

The Maharaja Bhoj restaurant did everything it could to escape the boycott. It changed ownership and its name and even went so far as to let go of all its Muslim employees, including suppliers. Located in Muzaffarnagar, in Uttar Pradesh, India’s biggest state, the establishment is located along the route of the Kanwar Yatra, a Hindu pilgrimage honoring the god Shiva, which takes place every year between the end of July and August.

Increasingly popular with young Hindu men, it is constantly marred by violence along its course, which starts in the sacred city of Haridwar, in the neighboring state of Uttarakhand, at the foot of the Himalayas, where devotees draw water from the Ganges to take back with them to their local temple. For days on end, millions of pilgrims from poor backgrounds take to the roads, carrying the water in containers slung over their shoulders with bamboo sticks. They travel on foot, on motorcycles or in trucks whose loudspeakers blare nonstop music. Many are under the influence of cannabis and strike terror as they go. Some establishments even opt to close their doors during the peak of the religious procession for fear of being vandalized.

On July 17 of this year, citing “order and security,” Muzaffarnagar police asked restaurant owners to display their names and those of all their employees. The unstated aim is to let customers know whether the business is run by Muslims − who account for 14% of India’s population, or over two hundred million people − or Hindus.

The measure was defended by the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, the fanatical monk Yogi Adityanath, who himself hails from the ranks of the Bharatiya Janata Party (Indian People’s Party, BJP), the political group of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Pilgrims “are very careful about what they eat,” police said, claiming that the decision had nothing to do with religion. During this period, devotees generally observe a strictly vegetarian diet and avoid eating both garlic and onions.

‘The police spend their time harassing us’

At Maharaja Bhoj, which was previously owned by two brothers, Shameem and Waseem Ahmad, arrangements had already been made. Muslim restaurateurs in Muzaffarnagar have been the victims of discrimination for several years. “The police spent their time harassing us and, as a Muslim, I was no longer able to run my establishment,” said younger brother Shameem, 27, candidly. So, on June 1, before the start of the pilgrimage, the Ahmad brothers sold their business to a Hindu friend, Neeraj Kumari.

But that wasn’t enough to calm the situation. “The police came several times to tell us that no Muslims should work here, under the pretext of wanting to avoid problems related to order and security,” said Kumari, who chose to comply by dismissing his non-Hindu employees. In an effort to get rid of the restaurant’s “reputation,” whose only fault was that it was run by Muslims, Kumari changed its name. The Raja Ram, in reference to the Hindu god Rama, became the Maharaja Bhoj. “Purely vegetarian,” reads the sign.

The directive, which caused an outcry across the country, was suspended on July 22 by the Supreme Court. The court ruled that while restaurant owners could be required to display the type of food they serve, they were not obliged to mention the name of the restaurant. Other states, such as Uttarakhand, or the city of Ujjain, in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh − all controlled by the BJP − have issued similar orders. Despite the decision of the country’s highest court, in Muzaffarnagar, the names of restaurant owners were still evident at the end of July.

Kasim, who owns a small tea store, Shagun Canteen, preferred not to remove his name from the sign “to avoid the police coming back again and again.” The latter had already insisted that the shopkeeper − who has no surname in the civil register − show, in addition to his first name, the surname of his father, whose membership in the Muslim community was beyond doubt. “Kasim, son of Vakeel Ahmad,” the poster reads. “The police told us not to hide our religion out of respect for the customer, in case he doesn’t want to eat in a restaurant run by Muslims,” said Nazim Tyagi, who works in a neighboring establishment. He used to own the New Star with his brother, but decided, in 2023, to sell his shares to a Hindu buyer in the hope of avoiding a boycott.

‘Spit jihad’

Back in 2023, a campaign instigated by Hindu cleric Swami Yashveer Maharaj went after shops that displayed the names of Hindu deities but were run by Muslims. “Only a person who is trying to do something wrong hides his name. These people are trying to swindle Hindus, serve them impure food and sully their religious beliefs,” he said by phone. He went on to repeat accusations, regularly made in extremist ircles, that Muslims serve beef to Hindus against their will, despite cows being considered sacred in Hinduism, and that they spit in their food. This conspiracy theory, known as the “spit jihad,” was widely propagated during the Covid-19 epidemic as the “corona jihad.” It alleged, among other things, that Muslim vendors deliberately spat on fruit and vegetables to spread the disease.

These kinds of rumors have not just represented the work of trolls on social media but have also been issued by members of the ruling party. “The goal is to create even more division between Hindus and Muslims by reinforcing existing prejudices against minorities, and also to undermine them economically,” said Delhi University professor Apoorvanand emphatically. The academic has, along with others, appealed to the Supreme Court.

Since Hindu nationalists came to power in 2014, there has been a surge in crimes against the Muslim minority, largely due to an atmosphere of impunity fostered by the authorities. “The police are actively acting against the Supreme Court’s decision, which shows that a whole section of the government has adopted the Hindutva ideology [which advocates Hindu supremacy],” added Apoorvanand. The media, the vast majority of which is pro-government, has also played an active role in identifying Muslim-owned businesses.

To get around the court’s decision, Hindu extremist Swami Yashveer Maharaj now advises Hindu owners to leave their names visible, put a saffron-colored flag (the sacred color of Hinduism) at the entrance and display a photo of the third “avatar” (reincarnation) of the god Vishnu. “It’s a good idea to display the owners’ names to protect Hindus, as Muslims spit in their food,” said Gaurav Gupta, the pleased Hindu owner of Ganpati, a restaurant where pilgrims and policemen come to dine.

source : lemonde

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