'Remove anti-Modi lens': BJP slams Cong, SP over remarks on Kanwar Yatra

New Delhi, Jul 2 (PTI) The BJP slammed the Congress and the Samajwadi Party (SP) over remarks of their senior leaders about Kanwar Yatra and asked them to remove their anti-Modi lens to see the real picture of the country.

The Kanwar Yatra is an annual pilgrimage during the Hindu month of Shravan, drawing thousands of devotees.

Amid a row over the government's directives in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand regarding the upcoming Kanwar Yatra, Congress Rajya Sabha MP Digvijaya Singh reportedly alleged that it was not the right of any state government to use the occasion to create an atmosphere of hatred.

Former SP MP S T Hasan on Wednesday condemned the alleged religious profiling of eatery owners along the Kanwar Yatra route in Uttarakhand by some Hindu outfits, calling the act a "form of terrorism".

His remarks came amid reports that members of certain Hindu organisations were allegedly checking the identities of eatery owners and staff, and targeting individuals suspected to be Muslims in several Uttarakhand cities.

Hitting back, BJP spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi going by the kind of statements made by Singh and Hasan, it is clear that they are inspired by the same sentiment.

"I would like to say that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi travels abroad. There was an organised conference -- 'Eradicating global Hindutva'. Then there was a conference in Chennai, 'Eradication of Sanatan Dharma'. Both the leaders seem to be influenced by this ideology," he said in a statement.

The Rajya Sabha BJP MP said Singh considers Zakir Naik "a messenger of peace", Osama bin Laden to him is "Osama ji" and Hafiz Saeed to him is "Hafiz sahab". Such people are the ones who bring communalism in Kanwar Yatra, he charged.

"As far as Hasan's statement is concerned, I would like to ask him why he wants to stand with those who hide their names," he said.

"The Congress is a party whose leader Rahul Gandhi is often abroad. Senior leaders of his party are not able to differentiate between India and abroad," he said.

They should remove their "anti-Modi" lenses and then they will see the real picture of the country, Trivedi said.

The Uttarakhand government has made it mandatory for eateries, including food carts, on the Kanwar Yatra route to prominently display their food licences or registration certificates.

In Uttar Pradesh's Muzaffarnagar, police have summoned several activists associated with Swami Yashveer Maharaj over an incident involving the unauthorised verification of the identities of eatery owners along the Kanwar Yatra route, officials said. PTI PK KSS KSS