Watch: UP top cop showering rose petals from chopper on Kanwariyas

A top Uttar Pradesh police officer has landed in controversy after he, accompanied by other senior officers, showered rose petals on Kanwariyas from a helicopter on Wednesday.

An ANI video shows ADGP(Meerut Zone) Prashant Kumar showering flowers. Also present in the chopper were Meerut Commissioner Anita Meshram and other senior officials..

Defending his act, Prashant Kumar said, “No religious angle should be given to this, flowers are used to welcome people. Administration respects all religions and actively takes part, even in Gurupurab,Eid, Bakrid or Jain festivals.”

The controversy comes on the day when a video surfaced showing Kanwariyas vandalising police vehicle after an altercation with locals in Bulandshahr on August 7.

On Wednesday, a video showed Kanwariyas attacking, toppling a car in Delhi’s Moti Nagar area. The vehicle had reportedly brushed past them.

Kanwar Yatra is an annual pilgrimage by the devotees of Shiva. They walk from their homes to Haridwar, Gaumukh, Gangotri in Uttarakhand to fetch Ganga water during Shravan, the fourth month of the Hindu calendar.

Twitter users were not impressed and saw the act as a “waste of tax payers’ money.”