case meat

Since Gujarat’s population consists of about 15% Scheduled Tribes, about 10% Muslims, 7.5% Scheduled Castes and about 50% Other Backward Classes, and migrants – most of whom do not have an ideological hatred for meat, unlike Jains and Vaishnavas – We can safely say that a major part of the population is a meat eater.

Recently BJP ruled bodies in Vadodara, Rajkot, Bhavnagar and Junagadi Campaign launched against hawkers and vendors running non-vegetarian food shops On streets and sidewalks on the grounds that selling such food in the open “hurts religious sentiments”. Following this, hundreds of food carts or stalls on the streets selling non-vegetarian food were stopped by the authorities. To say that Gujarat is a vegetarian state is tantamount to saying that the people of the state are drinking because the prohibition is in force. Wine flowing freely everywhere under the watch of the state is an open secret. Similarly, people regularly consume non-vegetarian food but do not go out in the open for fear of condemnation.

idea of ​​vegetarianism

This is because the socio-cultural region of Gujarat is dominated by Jains and Vaishnavas. To cater to these elite elites, Pizza Hut has opened its first exclusive vegetarian restaurant in Ahmedabad. Celebrity chef Sanjeev Kapoor also opened his first, all-vegan restaurant in Ahmedabad in 2009. This dominant Mahajan culture is marked by beliefs in non-violence, prohibition and austerity – social values ​​emphasized by Mahatma Gandhi. While vegetarianism is seen as central to this culture, meat eating is stigmatized despite the fact that large sections of society are meat eaters. The Swadhyaya Parivar and Swaminarayan movements have also reinforced the idea of ​​vegetarianism.

Most of the roadside food stalls selling meat are run by minorities, lower-class/low-caste Hindus or migrants. None of them have any concrete authority in the political affairs of Gujarat. Although the BJP has been in power in the state for more than two decades and controls all urban bodies in the main cities with its extended social base, only the upper castes such as Banias, Patels and Brahmins hold top positions in the government. Their social and cultural beliefs determine social norms. It is not surprising that the first to oppose the carts of non-vegetarian food was Revenue and Law Minister and Vadodara MLA Rajendra Trivedi. Devang Dani, chairman of the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation Municipal Planning Committee, a bania representing the posh area of ​​Bodakdev, banned stalls selling non-vegetarian food on public roads. In Vadodara, Municipal Corporation President Hitendra Patel issued directions asking for the removal of all non-vegetarian food stalls on the roadside for not covering them.

fear of condemnation

Reacting to the outrage after the ban, Gujarat BJP chief CR Patil said no action would be taken against vendors selling non-vegetarian food and added that he had directed all mayors not to take any coercive action against them. . The Chief Minister stressed that the state was not worried about what people ate. He said Action will be taken against street food carts selling only “unclean” food Or they are seen obstructing the traffic on the streets of the city. However, the fear of condemnation remains. Such restrictions, even if temporary, further stigmatize the marginalized communities and religious communities in the state. Such restrictions are imposed without protest, showing how dominant communities assert their dominance and threaten people’s livelihoods and peace.

mahesh.langa@thehindu.co.in