Indian beef ban discriminates

THE beef ban being implemented by the Bharatiya Janata Party administration in Maharashtra is against the spirit of Indian secularism.

Restrictions would prevent members of other communities who have no beef-eating taboo, including the poor, from obtaining an important, affordable source of protein. It is discriminatory. I should be free to eat what I want as long as I don’t force it on others.

The suicide of farmers is a more important issue than the slaughter of cows.

The new law in Maharashtra state comes against a background of religious tension in India, which has seen violence against churches and forced conversions of religious minorities by nationalists. NILOFAR DAWOOD Sherwood