North India eateries told to display employee names in Hindu holy month, sparking anger

By Saurabh Sharma

LUCKNOW, India (Reuters) - Police in northern India have asked owners of restaurants to list the names of their workers on display boards during a Hindu holy month that begins next week, sparking fears it is an attempt to identify Muslims and create a "communal divide".

Hundreds of thousands of devotees of Lord Shiva undertake a pilgrimage on foot to holy sites in the northern states of Uttarakhand, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh (U.P.) during the period to collect water from the river Ganga, which is then offered at local Shiva temples.

Devotees also follow dietary restrictions, such as no meat, during their journey - a practice that has been cited by police officers to justify the directions given earlier this week.

Police in Muzaffarnagar district of U.P. said the order, communicated orally, was given every year during the holy month and was "nothing new".

"This time one saint requested us that it should be done in order to avoid eating anything which might corrupt their efforts during this holy month," Inspector Rakesh Kumar, Muzaffarnagar police's public relations officer, told Reuters.

Reuters was unable to immediately verify this was an annual request.

Leaders of opposition groups fear the move will create a "deeper communal divide" and lead to Hindus avoiding eateries employing Muslims.

"Such orders are social crimes, which want to spoil the peaceful atmosphere of harmony," opposition Samajwadi Party's chief Akhilesh Yadav said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Pawan Khera, spokesperson for the main opposition Congress, asked in a post on X, whether the direction was "a step towards economic boycott of Muslims".

Located in Uttar Pradesh, India's most populous state which is ruled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Muzaffarnagar witnessed communal clashes in 2013 that killed about 65 people, mostly Muslims, and displaced thousands.

Although Modi was sworn-in for a rare third straight term last month with the support of his allies, his BJP lost 29 seats in U.P., where one-fifth of the 240 million population is Muslim.

BJP and Modi's federal government have, on multiple occasions, been accused by civil society, opposition groups, and some foreign governments of making decisions aimed at fanning religious discrimination.

Modi, however, says he does not oppose Islam or Muslims and is "resolved" to not discriminate between Hindus and Muslims.

(Reporting by Saurabh Sharma, writing by Sakshi Dayal; Editing by Sharon Singleton)