Headlines
Meat acquires political taste as protestors decry ban
Mumbai, Sep 10
Meat spilled over from dinner
tables to streets as hundreds of political activists on Thursday
protested the four-day meat ban here during a Jain festival, even as the
Bombay High Court raised its eyebrows at the ban.
The
Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, in a bid to regain political relevance, led
the protests in Dadar, the hub of the meat-loving Maharashtrian
community by selling the banned items on Thursday -- the start of the
eight-day-long Jain holy festival of Paryushan which devouts observe
through religious austerity/fasting and forgiveness.
"We
challenge authorities to take action against us... This meat ban is
unjustified, violates our fundamental rights and intended to appease a
particular community against the wishes of the huge majority," MNS
leader and corporator Sandeep Deshpande later told media persons.
In
the evening, MNS president Raj Thackeray stepped into the fray by
asking meat-sellers to defy the ban and offered his party cadre's
support to sell meat and fish produce in the markets.
"Are we
under some kind of Mughal rule that people should suffer such ban on
eating habits? It is possible only because some people are hiding behind
(Prime Minister) Narendra Modi and (BJP president) Amit Shah... This
ban on sale of meat is just the beginning, watch what the future holds
in store," he said.
Warning that the MNS should not be pushed
into a corner and agitate, Thackeray demanded to know why nobody objects
when Digamber Jain monks move around without clothes, but Jains are now
demanding a ban on meat.
"Jains cannot decide what the people of Maharashtra will eat or do," he added.
Deshpande,
daring the civic authorities to "take action" against him, said the
people were entitled to eat whatever they wanted anytime, and the
Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) had no right to stop them.
However,
Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray made it clear that the four-day
ban was not acceptable and his party "would not tolerate any kind of
religious compulsions on any community".
Earlier this week, the
BMC imposed a ban on sale of meat for four days of the Paryushan
festival, while the adjoining Mira-Bhayander Municipal Corporation in
Thane declared a complete ban during September 11-18.
Other civic
bodies like Navi Mumbai and Nashik have also followed suit with similar
partial ban on certain days, hitting the slaughter and sale of mutton,
chicken and fish items.
Though the ban has been implemented in Mumbai in spurts since 1964, it has never led to street protests.
The Bharatiya Janata Party-Shiv Sena government has already banned beef sale in the state since April this year.
Hearing
a PIL filed by Bombay Mutton Dealers Association challenging the BMC's
move, a division bench headed by Justice Anoop Mohta directed the civic
and state authorities to file affidavits on the issue.
Terming
the ban as "not feasible" in a metropolitan city like Mumbai, Justice
Mohta observed that such a straight ban cannot be a formula.
He further wondered about the status of other items like packaged meat products already available in the markets.
The matter will come up for further hearing on Friday.