In Ghaziabad, Vasundhara area on Friday, members of the Hindu Raksha Dal forcefully shut down two popular food outlets, KFC and Nazeer Foods, for allegedly selling meat during the holy month of Sawan. The protest happened in the presence of police officers, who were seen standing silently and taking no action.

Videos from the scene show members of the group shouting slogans like "Bharat Mata Ki Jai" and "Jai Shri Ram" as they confronted staff at the outlets and demanded they close their shops. One of the protesters was heard telling KFC staff, "This is Hindustan, and whatever the Hindus want will happen here." The staff appeared disturbed and were seen making phone calls during the protest.

No official meat ban in the area

Sources confirmed that there is no government order banning the sale of non-vegetarian food in the region during Sawan or the Kanwar Yatra. Despite this, protesters claimed that meat sales during the festival period hurt Hindu sentiments.

One member of the Hindu Raksha Dal said, “We are protesting against KFC and Nazeer Foods here since this is a Hindu-populated area. Kanwar Yatras are held here, but these people are selling meat here. How can you not respect the sentiments of the Hindus when they are the ones staying here?”

When asked about permission for the protest, another protester claimed, “We do not have a written permission, but since we are very active here, we keep talking to them and thus, obtained a verbal permission.”

The group warned that if the outlets reopened, they would return and stage similar protests. “They will have to shut their shops. If these KFC and Nazeer Foods outlets reopen, we will stage a similar protest and shut them down,” one member added.

The Kanwar Yatra, which began on June 10, involves lakhs of devotees travelling from places like Haridwar to offer Ganga water at Shiva temples. Due to the yatra, the Uttar Pradesh government has already faced backlash for making it compulsory for all shops along the yatra route to have licenses and publicly display the owner's real name.



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