When life gives you figs, be sure not to carry it with you on the road to perdition. A decision by the Yogi Adityanath-led Uttar Pradesh government has left everyone baffled. The government yesterday ordered the pruning of fig trees along the route Kanwar Yatra, terming them "inauspicious."
The Hindu reported that Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, at a meeting with administrative and police officials, also ordered the installations of CCTV cameras along the communally sensitive areas of the route and asked that the Kanwariyas not play "filmy, vulgar or provocative" songs.
As monsoon descends on north India, the Kanwar Yatra will be seen weaving its way through cities and towns, with devotees of Shiva in saffron clothes camping by the roadside, their trucks blaring devotional ditties and their shoulder stooping with poles bearing bells and water from the Ganges.
The government, earlier this month vowed to plant more trees mentioned in the 'Vedas' — banyan, peepal, pakar, neem, arjun, sheesham, aonla, anjir, dhaak, palash and rudraksh, this report noted. Fig tree clusters have always been a part of the Kanwar route, and it is only now that the government has decided to do something about them.
The government was criticized for supporting superstition, according to some Twitter users.
One Twitter user called it shocking.