Supreme Court stays BJP-ruled states' order requiring eateries to display owners' names, citing discriminatory practices and lack of legal support
Kanwariyas walk past a shop on which banners with shopkeeper's name was put up on Kanwar Marg after an order issued by Uttar Pradesh Government, in Muzaffarnagar. (Image: PTI)
The Supreme Court order on Monday staying the directive issues by government, local self-government and police authorities in BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Madhya Pradesh to eateries to display the names of their owners and operators has put paid to attempts to communalise the Kanwar pilgrimage and create divisions amongst people as well as communities at least for the time being.
Prima facie, the court has found that the order has no support of the law and that it is discriminatory. It hence ordered authorities not to force shop owners to display their names outside the shops. It destroyed the argument advanced by the BJP that its governments were only implementing the provisions in the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, which was passed by the United Progressive Alliance government. The attempt was clearly to drive a wedge between communities using an annual pilgrimage considered holy by Hindus.
It is repugnant that the people’s revulsion at the overt communalisation of life’s events which they expressed thought the ballot in the Lok Sabha election has taught the BJP no lesson and that the saffron outfit would still want to sow seeds of hatred and reap a harvest. The party tried its best to peddle insecurity in the minds of the voters by twisting the words and deeds of the Opposition but they saw through its tricks and hence denied it an absolute majority in the Lok Sabha, unlike in the past two elections. Unfortunately, the saffron camp has refused to pay heed to this changing sentiment.
Prima facie, the court has found that the order has no support of the law and that it is discriminatory. It hence ordered authorities not to force shop owners to display their names outside the shops. It destroyed the argument advanced by the BJP that its governments were only implementing the provisions in the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, which was passed by the United Progressive Alliance government. The attempt was clearly to drive a wedge between communities using an annual pilgrimage considered holy by Hindus.
It is repugnant that the people’s revulsion at the overt communalisation of life’s events which they expressed thought the ballot in the Lok Sabha election has taught the BJP no lesson and that the saffron outfit would still want to sow seeds of hatred and reap a harvest. The party tried its best to peddle insecurity in the minds of the voters by twisting the words and deeds of the Opposition but they saw through its tricks and hence denied it an absolute majority in the Lok Sabha, unlike in the past two elections. Unfortunately, the saffron camp has refused to pay heed to this changing sentiment.
That said, courts can still only do so much. It is up to the people to learn from the experience of societies that made hatred and superstition their agenda, if just to decide if one wants to live in a liberal, secular and democratic society for which an active conscience and eternal vigilance are the price.
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