NOW, MEAT BAN SPREADS TO CHHATTISGARH AND LUDHIANA
A meat ban imposed in parts of India to mark religious events spread to BJP-ruled Chhattisgarh and Punjab’s Ludhiana city on Friday, stoking a debate peppered with issues like communal sentiments and individual rights as political parties and citizens joined in.
The Chhattisgarh government barred the sale of meat for eight days while Ludhiana Police set a one-day ban this month during the Jain fasting festival of Paryushan and Ganesh Chaturthi celebrated by Hindus, amid widespread outrage following similar restrictions in Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Gujarat.
The developments came on a day Mumbai’s municipal body told the Bombay high court a four-day ban on meat sale introduced for the Jain festival would now apply just for two days as the state’s ruling BJP found itself cornered with ally Shiv Sena, the Congress and NCP criticising the prohibition. The financial capital will now see a meat ban only on September 17, with September 10 being the first day.
“What is the idea of having the ban on some days and allowing slaughter and sale of meat on other days?” the court asked authorities while hearing a petition, as it posted the matter for orders on September 14. “Is it that there is no sentiment on one day and the next day you are filled with sentiment? What is the idea behind this?”
The BJP’s political rivals called its attempts to impose a decades- old rule that was never strictly enforced an effort to woo the city’s tiny but powerful Jain community ahead of the 2017 civic polls.
The party’s gover nment in Rajasthan too this week ordered a ban on the sale of meat and fish on September 17, 18 and 27 for religious ceremonies.
“This is an integral part of the RSS design to impose Hindutva values and create communal polarisation,” the CPI( M) said in a statement. “While respecting religious sentiments of different sections of people, moral policing cannot be enforced to prescribe lifestyle and dietary habits on the people.”
Many Muslim groups have reacted ang rily to orders restricting the meat trade dominated by members of the community in several parts of the country, terming this an attack on India’s inclusive social structure.
“The Chhattisgarh government’s decision is unjustified. Sale and consumption of meat is not illegal and it is not sold by hawkers but at earmarked places. We respect all religions,” Nauman Akram Hamid, president of the Muslim body Seerat-un-Nabi Committee, told HT. “Those who have any issue against meat should avoid going through the areas where it is sold.”
While India is the world’s second biggest exporter of beef, the BJP and other rightwing groups have been pushing for a nationwide ban on the product as the cow is revered by many Hindus.
Maharashtra extended a ban on the slaughter of cows to bulls and bullocks in March, Haryana made cow slaughter and beef sale non- bailable offences soon after while Jharkhand and Rajasthan are reportedly considering similar legislation.