Lucknow: It’s that time of the year again. Kanwariyas—pilgrims walking to the Ganges and home with sacred water pots—are at the centre of a political slugfest in Uttar Pradesh. Again. Videos of young men vandalising vehicles, manhandling policemen and generally creating trouble on the street are going viral. Again.
The Samajwadi Party (SP) has jumped on the issue, describing the kanwariyas allegedly involved in violence as ‘goons’ and accusing the Yogi Adityanath government of failing to maintain law and order. BJP leaders have defended the pilgrims, referring to them as a young, patriotic generation devoted to Lord Shiva.
The monsoon mayhem has broken over Uttar Pradesh after a series of incidents involving kanwariyas in the state and neighbouring Uttarakhand. Social media has been streaming ammunition for the ongoing slugfest on an hourly, blow-by-blow basis. The yatra runs through 11 August.
The SP has now sharpened its attack, demanding the resignation of the Uttar Pradesh police chief and Additional Chief Secretary (Home) over the Meerut incident, in which a group of kanwariyas allegedly assaulted police personnel as well as members of the public.
SP spokesperson I.P. Singh took to X to target the state government. “Goons and drunk kanwariyas were beating up the public. Today it crossed all limits when they brutally assaulted police personnel inside their police jeep, leaving them bleeding and tearing their clothes,” Singh said in his post.
He said the Director-General of Police and Additional Chief Secretary (Home) would resign if they had even a little self-respect left. Singh also questioned why such incidents were being allowed when, according to him, only four months of the government’s term remain.
Speaking to ThePrint later, Singh said, “Now the BJP is not able to see who is breaching law and order in Uttar Pradesh. Earlier they were trolling Gen Z’s of [the] Jantar Mantar [protest] for using foul language.”
BJP’s Gen Z defence
The BJP, meanwhile, has stoutly defended the young kanwariyas. Shalabh Mani Tripathi, the BJP legislator from Deoria Sadar, led the campaign on X after one user described those seen in the videos of violence as “Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)-brainwashed Gen Z”.
Responding to the post, Tripathi wrote: “Your madrasa-brainwashed Gen Z remains busy looking for opportunities to cause explosions. Our Gen Z is busy with patriotism and the devotion of Bam Bhole. I understand your pain.”
The state’s BJP spokesperson, Rakesh Tripathi, was more measured in his words, saying: “Opposition parties are trying to politicise and misrepresent videos of violence. If there is any breach of law and order, the police will take appropriate action. However, kanwariyas should not be falsely blamed, as they are Shiva devotees. If any fringe elements are found to be involved in any incident, the police will deal with them in accordance with the law.”
The issue is particularly significant in Uttar Pradesh, where the Kanwar Yatra passes through several districts and draws increasingly large numbers of devotees every year.
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Meerut clash
The latest controversy was triggered by an incident late on Monday night at Meerut on the Delhi-Dehradun highway when two groups of kanwariyas are alleged to have clashed after a minor road collision.
According to police, one group was travelling on foot while the other was on motorcycles. New Delhi resident Vikas Mishra was walking home from Haridwar with pots of sacred Gangajal balanced across his shoulders when Sonu Yadav, from Gautam Buddh Nagar, and his associate Guddu, who were going in the opposite direction, ran into him. An argument ensued, and when police personnel intervened, they were allegedly pushed around and manhandled.
A video of the incident, reportedly filmed near the Garam Dharam hotel under Daurala Police Station, shows two groups of kanwariyas going pell-mell at each other with sticks and rods.
It is alleged that the members of one of these groups pulled people out of a police vehicle and took them toward nearby fields, where they assaulted them with sticks. Other policemen soon reached the spot and brought the situation under control.
The police version broadly confirms the outline of the encounter. A senior Meerut Police officer told ThePrint that on the night of 3 August, a few kanwariyas were resting on the lane in front of Garam Dharam hotel in the area of Daurala Police station when the incident happened. “The kanwariyas were resting in the lane reserved for them when a bike driven by one Sonu and his associate collided and broke the kanwars (water receptacles),” said the officer.
A heated argument gave way to a fight, following which beat officers reached the spot, he said. “Sonu and his associates were put in the police vehicle when some kanwariyas attacked Sonu again. In trying to de-escalate the matter, a constable incurred injuries on his face, shoulder and head,” the officer said. A report has been registered and Sonu’s vehicle seized, he added.
One-off?
The Meerut clash is not the only incident involving kanwariyas to have roiled across screens nationwide during this year’s pilgrimage. In Haridwar, Uttarakhand, another confrontation was reported on 1 August after a kanwar was allegedly damaged by an Alto car near the Golden Dhaba, close to a highway flyover in the Mangalore Kotwali area.
Police sources said the car was travelling from Haridwar towards Delhi. Its driver was a kanwariya too, and he was carrying Gangajal in the vehicle. Near the flyover, the car allegedly collided with another kanwariya’s kanwar, damaging it.
An argument followed, and some kanwariyas then allegedly assaulted the car driver, severely damaging his vehicle. The police was informed, and they soon reached the spot. By the time the Mangalore Kotwali in-charge arrived, other police personnel had brought the situation under control.
A similar controversy emerged in Lucknow last Monday after a verbal spat between kanwariyas on motorcycles and the driver of a school van carrying minor girl students near Charak Chauraha.
A brush between the motorcycles and van degenerated into an argument, and the enraged kanwariyas began pelting stones at the vehicle. A video of the incident later surfaced on social media but the Chowk police station in-charge denied that any stone-pelting had taken place when contacted about the incident.
There were also allegations that the motorcycle-borne kanwariyas called their associates to the spot, and that the group misbehaved with—and pushed around—a senior constable. Some kanwariyas and policemen are reported to have sustained injuries during the altercation.
With inputs from Alisha Dutta.
(Edited by Nardeep Singh Dahiya)
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