In the build-up to this year’s Janmashtami celebrations, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had asked the police forces to organise a grand but dignified celebration as per the Indian traditions. Yogi had given such a call after reportedly claiming that Janmashtami celebrations had been disrupted in the state for a while.
After receiving the order, the Director General of police Sulkhan Singh wrote to all the police chiefs in the state, asking them to celebrate the occasion for two days till Tuesday. Janmashtami is celebrated in police stations because, Lord Krishna himself was born in a jail where his parents Devaki and Vasudeva were kept as prisoners by his uncle Kansa.
On Wednesday Yogi Adityanath reacted to this order of his by stating that:
Agar mai sadak par Eid ke din namaz padhne pe rok nahi laga sakta to mujhe koi adhikar nahi ki mai thano mein janmashtami ke parv ko rokun… koi adhikar nahi
This roughly translates to, “If I can’t put a stop to the offering of namaz on roads during Eid, then I have no rights to stop the celebration of Janmashtami in police stations.”
Yogi gave his reactions at an an event which was organised by the Prerna Jansanchar Evam Shidh Sansthan, Noida and Jansanchar Evam Patrakarita Sansthan, Lucknow.
He also spoke about the time when his officials had objected to the use of loudspeakers, DJs and music systems during kanwar yatra. He reportedly stated that he had then asked them to ensure that loudspeakers were banned from all religious places of worship. But if enforcing such a ban on all religious places or processions was not possible, there is no reason why kanwar yatra should be singled out.
He also supported playing music during kanwar yatra by asking whether it was a kanwar yatra or a shav yatra (funeral procession) that should be devoid of celebrations.
This isn’t the only time Yogi government appears to have put all the religions on an equal platter. Recently we had reported how the Yogi government had made marriage registrations compulsory in the state irrespective of the couple’s religion. This decision was incidentally opposed by various Muslim clerics in the state.
