The orders issued by the Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand governments asking food stall owners to display their names on the carts enroute the Kanwar Yatra was raised by Opposition MPs in Parliament on Monday.
In the Lok Sabha, Congress MP Dharamvir Gandhi said the orders by the State governments of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand were a “divisive” step through which the BJP was trying to further its political agenda.
“This is unconstitutional and undemocratic. This is a divisive step and BJP is trying to get its political agenda. I request the government that these orders be rescinded,” Mr Gandhi said raising the issue during Zero Hour.
In the Rajya Sabha, Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar rejected notices from Opposition MPs calling for discussion on the order.
Six members of the Upper House — Congress’s Pramod Tiwari, Aam Aadmi Party’s Sanjay Singh, Trinamool Congress’s Sagarika Ghose and Saket Gokhale, CPI’s Sandosh Kumar and IUML’s Haris Beeran — moved the motion under Rule 267, seeking suspension of the business of the day to take up discussion on the issue.
Mr. Dhankhar said the notices were “neither in conformity to requirements of Rule 267 nor to directions given by the chair... And so the same are not accepted”.
Later in the day, the Supreme Court prohibited the enforcement of directives issued by the Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand governments requiring food stalls en route the Kanwar Yatra to prominently exhibit the names and other identity details of their owners and employees.
