Soon, similar dictates emerged from other states ruled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party. The two-week-long pilgrimage runs from July 22 to Aug. 6. During that time most of the devotees avoid eating meat, onions or garlic. Ahmad’s stall sells only chai and packaged snacks such as chips and cookies.
The order from the local administration sparked widespread outrage for its “bigoted nature,” said Nadeem Khan, the national secretary of the Association for the Protection of Civil Rights, a human rights group. Khan and other critics of the government called the order another step toward “apartheid” and the continued persecution of caste- and religion-based minorities in India.
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