Ahead of the festival of Bakr-Eid, which is to be celebrated on Wednesday, 22 August, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, Yogi Adityanath, instructed police and relevant authorities to ensure that no animal sacrifice was carried out in the open and that no blood was found in the drains.
Through a video conference conducted by Yogi on Saturday, 18 August, he said that this action was to ensure that the “religious sentiments of other communities” were not “hurt”, The Times of India reported.
Additionally, Yogi ordered the authorities to make sure that protected animals were not sacrificed as a result of the festival.
Maintenance of law and order, and an undisturbed and steady supply of water and electricity, were others parts of his instruction list, the report adds.
“We will make sure the CM’s instructions are complied with. We have held a meeting with district officials. On Monday, there will be another meeting between officials and prominent members of both communities about the festival,” Rajeev Sharma, the district magistrate of Muzaffarnagar, told The Times of India.
The Chief Minister also mentioned that strict action would be taken against those who were trying to “obstruct communal harmony”, especially if they sacrificed protected animals, including cows, India Today says.
However, responding to Yogi’s call for action, Samajwadi Party spokesperson Juhi Singh told India Today:
Prohibited animals are never sacrificed during the festival. These kinds of orders show the insensitivity of CM who is trying to create unnecessary controversy.
(With inputs from The Times of India and India Today)
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)