Dipped in devotion, with Kanwars hoisted on their shoulders, Shiva devotees have begun their annual journey from Delhi to Haridwar. But once again, some among them are drawing attention for all the wrong reasons – reports of looting, vandalism, and assaults by Kanwariyas have been surfacing along the entire route.

At the same time, Hindutva groups have stirred up fresh controversy along the Kanwar path. They have been targeting roadside dhabas and stalls, raising disputes over nameplates and probing the religious identity of owners and workers.

The Supreme Court in July 2024 had prohibited the enforcement of the public notice issued by police in Uttar Pradesh’s Muzaffarnagar district, directing hotels, dhabas, and shops on the route of the Kanwar Yatra to display the names of their owners and employees. 

Despite this, on 28 June, for instance, at the Pandit Ji Dhaba in Muzaffarnagar, a staff member was allegedly forced to remove his pants so his religion could be verified. Just a few weeks earlier, on April 8, Kanwariyas vandalised the Baba Balaknath Dhaba in the same area after a piece of onion was found in a meal, sparking outrage. The mob smashed chairs, tables, fridges, fans, and glass panels. 

Speaking to Newslaundry, dhaba owner Sadhana Devi said that the attackers shouted, “This is a Muslim dhaba running under a Hindu name.” In the chaos, 40-year-old Pintu, who washed dishes at the dhaba, was beaten with a hockey stick so brutally that his leg was broken. He is now being treated at the Muzaffarnagar district hospital.

Meanwhile, Muzaffarnagar’s self-styled ‘protector of religion’, Baba Swami Yashveer Maharaj, has been leading groups to check QR codes at shops to find out the religion of the owners. From Muzaffarnagar to Ghaziabad, he has distributed posters of Lord Varaha and flags to Hindu shopkeepers, instructing them to display these prominently so that Hindu-owned shops can be easily identified. The 50-year-old Swami, who runs a yoga ashram in Bagara, describes himself on the social media platform X as a preacher of Sanatan Vedic Hinduism. He first made headlines in 2015 for his controversial remarks about Prophet Muhammad, which led the Uttar Pradesh government to invoke the National Security Act against him. Just last year, during the Kanwar Yatra, he also courted controversy by demanding that dhabas put up nameplates disclosing their owners’ faith.

In Meerut too, all non-vegetarian dhabas run by Muslims have been forcibly shut down for the duration of the Kanwar Yatra.

For this report, we travelled the Kanwar route from Delhi to Haridwar to see for ourselves how, in the name of faith, Kanwariyas and Hindutva groups are creating chaos, spreading fear, and flouting the law.

Watch.