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With the annual Kanwar Yatra set to begin next month, Muzaffarnagar Swami Yashveer Maharaj referred to the Muslim community with Islamophobic terms like ‘jihadis’, alleging the Hindu community will no longer tolerate the display of Hindu deities’ names in their eateries and shops.

A video of the seer emerged on social media platforms where he says, “There are certain people with a “jihadi” mentality on the Kanwar Yatra route that run hotels, dhabas, tea stalls, juice stalls, sweet shops using the names of our gods and goddesses, or with dharmic names.”

He claims that Muslim shop owners spit, urinate and mix substances to make Kanwar devotees commit sacrilege. “Whatever food Hindus eat at such stalls, they (Muslims) conspire to mix spittle, urine, cow meat, or other substances in it, which can render men impotent and women infertile,” he says

“To combat this, we have the decision to deploy 5,000 Hindu Veers who will make sure they (Muslims) are not able to run any shop,” Swami Yashveer Maharaj says, adding all shop owners are required to display their religion.

In July last year, the Muzaffarnagar police issued an order stating that all shopkeepers should display their names and religious identity in front of their stalls. They defended the order, stating it would “help them control communal tensions during the Kanwar yatra.”

The directive faced widespread condemnation from activists, opposition leaders, and civil societies, who blamed the Yogi Adityanath government for creating a religious divide.

The directive drew vast condemnation from all sectors of life, with activists and opposition parties blaming the Yogi Adityanath government for creating a religious divide. Finally, the Supreme Court took a suo motu and issued an interim stay, allowing businesses to state whether they serve vegetarian or non-vegetarian food.

About 240 kilometres of the Kanwar Yatra route lie in Uttar Pradesh’s Muzaffarnagar district. Almost half the population of the district is Muslim.

Meanwhile, Swami Yashveer Maharaj took credit for “convincing the Muzaffarnagar police” to issue the order. “Last year, the government supported us, so we expect the same again. The public is also more aware and vigilant now, so people will be out on the roads to stop such acts from happening under any circumstances,” his video concluded.