Overview

• In Bareilly, a teacher faces an FIR after advising students to "light the lamp of knowledge instead of fetching Kanwar", with right-wing groups accusing him of insulting Hindu beliefs.
• Samajwadi Party MLA Ziyauddin Rizvi described Kanwar devotees as "illiterate and superstitious villagers" and questioned why children of bureaucrats and business leaders do not join the pilgrimage.
• Senior BJP leader Pushkar Mishra condemned Rizvi’s comments as a morally bankrupt example of communal polarisation and accused the SP of weaponising faith for political gain.
• The Samajwadi Party launched its own Kanwar Yatra from Haridwar with posters of Akhilesh Yadav and Mulayam Singh in a bid to challenge the BJP’s perceived monopoly on the pilgrimage.
• Analysts say Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s state-endorsed spectacle—featuring drone-petal showers, bhajan loudspeakers and business restrictions—has helped the BJP fold predominantly Dalit and OBC Kanwariyas into its electoral Hindutva strategy.