The impact of Israel’s attack on Hezbollah and the tension between Iran and Palestine is also visible on India. A bus owner in Karnataka’s Dakshina Kannada district had to change the name of his travel agency. Actually he had written the name of the travel agency on his bus as Israel Travels. But after criticism on social media, he had to change this name. Now he has named it Jerusalem. The buses of this travel agency run on the Moodbidri-Kinnigoli-Kati-Mulki route. Some people had shared its photo on social media. These people had demanded from the police that a case should be registered against him.
Bus owner Lester Kateel told that he has worked in Israel for 12 years. That’s why he named his travel agency after Israel. He told that before returning home I worked at different places in Israel. When I started my travel agency, I thought of keeping this name. At that time I had no idea that people could have objections to this. I named the agency Israel only because that country had given me employment. The people who objected argued that if someone puts up a picture in support of Palestine, the police files a case. In such a situation, why should there not be a case against Lester for supporting Israel?
It is noteworthy that Dakshina Kannada district of Karnataka is full of communal tension. When people raised questions on the name written on the bus on social media, it was brought to the notice of senior police officials. After this the bus owner decided to change it and keep the name Jerusalem. He said that I do not understand what problem people have with ‘Israel Travels’? Lester said that the police had no objection, but I changed the name so that there would be no problem in future.
