The BJP-ruled <keyword id="6355766" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Ujjain" source="Orion">Ujjain</keyword> Municipal Corporation has directed shop owners to display their names and mobile numbers outside their establishments in the ancient city, a directive coming on the heels of a similar order by the BJP government in UP for eateries along the <keyword id="2430693" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Kanwar-Yatra-route" source="Orion">Kanwar Yatra route</keyword>. Violators will have to pay a Rs 2,000 fine for the first offence and Rs 5,000 if they defy this order for the second time, <keyword id="17970492" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Ujjain-Mayor" source="Orion">Ujjain Mayor</keyword> <keyword id="14958189" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Mukesh-Tatwal" source="Orion">Mukesh Tatwal</keyword> said on Saturday. This order is aimed at ensuring safety and transparency and not intended to target <keyword id="22489814" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Muslim-shop-keepers" source="Orion">Muslim shop-keepers</keyword>, he added. Ujjain, the hometown of Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav, is known for its sacred <keyword id="696878" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Mahakal-temple" source="Orion">Mahakal temple</keyword>, attracting devotees from around the globe, especially during the Savaan month, which starts on Monday. Tatwal said the Mayor-in-Council of Ujjain had approved a proposal for shopkeepers to display their names on September 26, 2002, followed by the Corporation House, and subsequently sent it to the state government for objections and formalities. "All formalities have been already completed. The implementation was delayed as the nameplates were initially required to be of the same size and colour. Now, we have relaxed these terms. Displaying the names and mobile numbers of shopkeepers will suffice," he told PTI over the phone. He stressed that the measure is rooted in the MP Shop Establishment Act or Gumasta License, and it serves to enhance customer safety. "Ujjain is a religious and holy city. People come here with religious aastha (faith). They have the right to know about the shopkeeper whose services they are availing. If a customer is dissatisfied or cheated, knowing the shopkeeper's details allows them to seek redress," the mayor said. Ujjain is set to host the Simhastha (Kumbh) Mela in 2028, a significant religious fair held every 12 years. This action mirrors the recent directive in Uttar Pradesh, where all eateries along the Kanwar Yatra route were asked to display owners' names. The Uttar Pradesh government extended this order statewide on Friday, while Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said similar instructions are already in place his state. The order has faced criticism from opposition parties and some members of the ruling alliance, who argue it targets Muslim traders.

Ujjain shop owners told to display names, contact numbers; Not targeting Muslims, says mayor

The <keyword id="19895345" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Supreme-Court" source="keywords">Supreme Court</keyword> on Monday ordered an interim stay on the directives issued by BJP-ruled <keyword id="19894922" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Uttar-Pradesh" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="Uttar Pradesh" meta.hostid="153" meta.entityid="Uttar Pradesh">Uttar Pradesh</keyword> and <keyword id="19918812" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Uttarakhand" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="Uttarakhand" meta.hostid="153" meta.entityid="Uttarakhand">Uttarakhand</keyword> asking <keyword id="21485673" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="eateries" source="keywords">eateries</keyword> along the <keyword id="21111319" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="Kanwar-Yatra" source="keywords">Kanwar Yatra</keyword> routes to display the names of their owners, staff and other details, a move the opposition has claimed is intended to promote religious discrimination. Issuing notice to the governments of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Madhya Pradesh, where the Ujjain municipal body has issued a similar <keyword id="20003910" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="directive" source="keywords">directive</keyword>, a bench of Justices Hrishikesh Roy and SVN Bhatti, however, said eateries may be required to display the kind of food they are serving like they are vegetarian or non-vegetarian. A large number of devotees travel from various places with 'kanwars' carrying holy water from the Ganga to perform 'jalabhishek' of Shivlings during the Hindu calendar month of 'Shravan'. Many believers shun consuming meat during the month they consider holy. The significant order comes amid an escalating row over the directives, with even BJP ally Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) joining the chorus for their withdrawal and opposition parties resolving to raise the issue in Parliament. The opposition has alleged that the orders were "communal and divisive" and intended to target Muslims and Scheduled Castes by forcing them to reveal their identity, but the BJP maintained that the step has been taken keeping in mind law and order issues and the religious sentiments of pilgrims. "We deem it appropriate to pass interim order prohibiting the enforcement of the above directives. In other words, food sellers may be required to display kind of food, but must not be forced to display names of owners, staff employed," the bench said and posted the matter for further hearing on Friday. No one appeared for the state governments in the apex court on Monday. The top court was hearing a batch of pleas including those by <keyword id="20034224" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="TMC-MP-Mahua-Moitra" source="keywords">TMC MP Mahua Moitra</keyword>, academician Apoorvanand Jha and columnist Aakar Patel, and <keyword id="22504922" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="NGO-Association-of-Protection-of-Civil-Rights" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="NGO Association of Protection of Civil Rights" meta.hostid="153" meta.entityid="NGO Association of Protection of Civil Rights">NGO Association of Protection of Civil Rights</keyword> challenging the directives. At the outset, the bench asked senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, appearing for Moitra, if any formal order has been passed in the matter. Singhvi said a "camouflaged" order has been passed to display names of owners of eateries. He asserted the orders passed by the Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand governments is "exclusion by identity" and against the Constitution. Senior advocate Chander Uday Singh, appearing for Association for Protection of Civil Rights, submitted that while the state authorities were claiming the order proposed voluntary compliance, it was being enforced by coercion. "It is not based on any statutory backing. No law gives police commissioner power to do this," he asserted. Asking Singhvi to desist from exaggeration, the bench told him, "These orders have dimensions of safety and hygiene also." Singhvi said Kanwar Yatras have been going on for decades and people of different religious faiths-Islam, Christianity and Buddhism- have been helping <keyword id="22477203" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="kanwariyas" source="keywords">Kanwariyas</keyword>. He said many vegetarian hotels and restaurants being run by Hindus have Muslim and Dalit employees. "I have been on the Haridwar route many times. There are lot of pure vegetarian restaurants run by Hindus. But if they have Muslim or Dalit employees, can I say I will not go there and eat? Because the food is somehow touched by them (Muslim employees) "These directives are issued without any authority of law, they are being clever. If I disclose, I am damned; if I don't I am damned. What is the rational nexus of giving my name?" he said. Referring to the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, Singhvi submitted the law does not prescribe owners to name their eateries after their names. During the hearing, the bench asked,"They (Kanwariyas) worship Shiva, yes? Do they expect the food to be cooked and served and grown by a certain community?" Senior advocate Huzefa Ahmadi, appearing for the petitioners, submitted that a public notice had been issued by the authorities in Uttar Pradesh. In her plea before the top court, Moitra has sought a stay on the orders passed by the two state governments saying such directives aggravate discord between communities. The TMC leader said forcing disclosure of the names of proprietors and staff, on the stated ground of respecting pilgrims' dietary choices, "makes it clear that dietary choices is a pretext, or a proxy, for the compelled disclosure of personal and, in this case, religious identity", the plea said. It alleged this has been done to create a socially-enforced economic boycott on Muslim shop owners and workers, and the loss of their livelihoods. Days after the Muzaffarnagar police asked all eateries along the Kanwar Yatra route to display the names of owners of eateries, the Uttar Pradesh government on Friday extended the controversial order across the state. Besides the two state governments, the BJP-ruled Ujjain Municipal Corporation had directed shop owners to display their names and mobile numbers outside their establishments in the ancient city, home to the famous 'Mahakaal' temple. The month of Shravan starts from July 22 this year and lasts till August 19.

SC stays UP, Uttarakhand govt directive for displaying names of eatery owners on Kanwar Yatra route

With assembly polls in key states coming up, <keyword id="404256" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Congress-Parliamentary-Party" source="Orion">Congress Parliamentary Party</keyword> chairperson <keyword id="19935990" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="Sonia-Gandhi" source="keywords">Sonia Gandhi</keyword> on Wednesday said the "<keyword id="22613088" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Mahaul" source="Orion">mahaul</keyword> (public mood)" is in the party's favour but there is a need to sustain the momentum and goodwill generated for it in the <keyword id="56978" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Lok-Sabha-elections" source="Orion">Lok Sabha elections</keyword>. "We must not become complacent and over confident...I dare say that if we perform well, reflecting the trend that we witnessed in the Lok Sabha elections, national politics will undergo a transformation," she told the <keyword id="19895371" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Congress" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="Congress" meta.hostid="83" meta.entityid="Congress">Congress</keyword> Parliamentary Party (<keyword id="43847" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="CPP" source="Orion">CPP</keyword>). Gandhi also accused the <keyword id="19916814" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Modi-government" source="keywords">Modi government</keyword> of not drawing the right lessons from "their significant decline" in the Lok Sabha elections and persisting with their policy of "dividing communities and spreading an atmosphere of fear and animosity". "Fortunately, the Supreme Court intervened at the right time," she said in an apparent reference to the stay on the orders passed by Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand government asking eateries along the Kanwar Yatra route to display the name of owners. "But this can only be a temporary respite. Look at how the rules have been suddenly changed to permit the bureaucracy to participate in the activities of the RSS. It calls itself a cultural organisation but the whole world knows that it is the BJP's political and ideological base," Gandhi said. Noting that elections will be held in four states, she urged party leaders to sustain the momentum and goodwill that had been generated for the party in the Lok Sabha elections. "We must not become complacent and over confident. The 'mahaul' does favour us, but we have to work unitedly with a sense of purpose. I dare say that if we perform well, reflecting the trend that we witnessed in the Lok Sabha elections, national politics will undergo a transformation," Gandhi said. Her remarks come ahead of assembly polls in Haryana, Maharashtra and Jharkhand as also the possibility of elections in Jammu and Kashmir this year. She also slammed the Union Budget, saying that the pressing demands of farmers and youth in particular, have been totally ignored. Allocations in a number of vital sectors have not done justice to the tasks required to be fulfilled, she said. "There has been widespread disappointment, in spite of the prime minister, the finance minister and others to talk up the Budget and its so-called accomplishments. The Union Government, especially its top leadership, continues to be self-delusional as crores of families across the country are devastated by mounting unemployment and price rise," she said.

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Ujjain shop owners told to display names, contact numbers; Not targeting Muslims, says mayor

PTI

SC stays UP, Uttarakhand govt directive for displaying names of eatery owners on Kanwar Yatra route

PTI

'Mahaul' in our favour, don't be complacent and over-confident: Sonia Gandhi to party on upcoming polls

PTI