By Damayantee Dhar
The modest Hotel Tulsi, along the Ahmedabad-Mehsana highway, stood deserted around 6.30 pm late last week.
A few staffers sat scattered around the otherwise busy dhaba as some men belonging to the Bajrang Dal stood across the road dissuading people from dining there.
“The hotel belongs to a Muslim and hence no one should dine there. The Hindu name is just to deceive customers. We cannot trust them,” said Nitesh, a Bajrang Dal member who stood across the road from the hotel, celebrating the cancellation of the licences of 27 such eateries across Gujarat.
‘Muslim owners, Hindu names’
On January 23, the state government permanently cancelled these licences. The Gujarat State Road Transport Corporation (GSRTC) also announced on the same day that buses shall not stop for meals at these eateries as they were “being run by Muslim owners, but under Hindu names”.
The GSRTC notification stated: “Citizens had noticed that some of the hotels that won the bids and signed deals with the GSRTC were using Hindu names even though they were owned by Muslims. As a result, there were demands to investigate such hotels and take appropriate action. Accordingly, GSRTC took action and cancelled the permits of 27 such hotels.”
However, state Transport Minister Harsh Sanghvi maintained that the licences were cancelled as they were found to be “dirty and unhygienic”. “The step has been taken keeping in mind the safety and wellbeing of the passengers,” Sanghvi wrote on X.
This story was originally published in thefederal.com. Read the full story here.