Calicut Karachi Durbar, a restaurant in Kerala’s Kozhikode has covered the word ‘Karachi’ in its name board, after a group of people demanded that they change their name. The restaurant which exclusively serves Pakistani food is located at Pottammal in Kozhikode.
According to restaurant owner Jamshi, a group of people from the BJP came to the restaurant two days after the Pulwama terror attack, and demanded that they change name of the restaurant. “They said I should remove Karachi from the name board, but I did not listen to them,” he said.
However, the men came back two days ago, when the tensions between India and Pakistan were escalating over the capture of Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman. “The word Karachi was covered at once when they came demanding for it a second time. I did not want any untoward incidents to occur at the place as it will leave a bad impression on the customers,” Jamshi told TNM.
Jamshi also covered name board of another restaurant which he owns in Kozhikode, fearing similar issues.
According to the restaurant owner, the outlet in Pottammal is about two years old, whereas the other outlet was started two months back.
Jamshi, who was a photographer by profession, started the Pakistani restaurant two years back because of his passion for food. “I had visited the famous Karachi restaurant in Dubai and was awestruck by their cuisine. I came back home and started Calicut Karachi Durbar with that inspiration, and it became a hit among the people here,” said Jamshi.
Jamshi has also started a Pakistani restaurant in Bengaluru two months ago, which was named Calicut Durbar. “Even before this issue, I had been questioned many times why I gave the restaurant a Pakistani name. I had just done that because we only serve Pakistani food here. But since many had expressed displeasure over the name in Kerala, the outlet in Bangalore was named differently,” he added.
Though Jamshi alleged that members of BJP were part of the group, district officials of the party dismissed the claims.
The popular Karachi Bakery in Bengaluru faced similar issues last week, when a group of 20-25 people entered their outlet in Indiranagar and demanded that the name be changed. The bakery was forced to cover its name board following this; police arrested nine people in relation to the incident on February 24.