This Was Called 'Apartheid', 'Judenboykott': Asaduddin Owaisi On UP Police Directive To Shop Owners

AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi harshly criticised the Uttar Pradesh Police’s new directive requiring food shop and cart owners to display their names so that Kanwariyas do not “get confused”. The Hyderabad MP said the purpose of this directive is “so that no Kanwadia buys anything from a Muslim shop by mistake. Owaisi compared this to historical systems of segregation and discrimination, calling it a form of “Apartheid” and likening it to the Nazi-era “Judenboykott.”

In a widely circulated video, a police officer explains, “Orders have been given to write the names of the proprietor or people who work there on eateries, shops, and carts selling any food items so that Kanwars are not confused.” The controversial move aims to ensure that Kanwariyas, who are on a pilgrimage, do not inadvertently buy from Muslim shopkeepers during their sacred journey.

The Kanvar Yatra, an annual pilgrimage of Shiva devotees, sees millions of Kanvarias traveling from various locations to sacred sites like Haridwar, Gaumukh, Gangotri, and Ajgaibinath to fetch holy water from the Ganges River. This year’s Yatra is set to commence on July 22, drawing significant attention and participation.

Earlier, TMC MP Mahua Moitra also condemned the directive, drawing a parallel to the Nazi regime’s persecution of Jews during World War II. She questioned if such measures would eventually lead to Muslims being marked in similar ways and criticized the directive as blatantly illegal and unconstitutional.

Apartheid was a system of institutionalized racial segregation and discrimination in South Africa from 1948 to 1994. Under apartheid, the South African government enforced policies that separated people based on race, restricting the rights of non-white citizens and perpetuating a system of inequality and exclusion.

Judenboykott, or “Boycott of the Jews,” was a policy enacted by the Nazi regime in Germany starting in 1933. It involved the systematic exclusion of Jews from economic, social, and professional life through boycotts and other discriminatory measures, which were part of the broader campaign of persecution leading up to the Holocaust.