Why are some cities in the Indian state of Gujarat banning the display of non-wage goods?
In the Indian states of Gujarat, the Bharatiya Janata Party-run municipalities in Vadodara, Rajkot, Bhavnagar and Junagadh have launched a campaign against stalls and vendors selling meat and egg-based food on the streets and sidewalks.
The municipality has instructed vendors to either stop selling non-wage items in their shops or keep them covered so that pedestrians or pedestrians cannot see them. The municipality says it hurts people's feelings.
According to reports, although no formal notification has been issued, the selected departments of the municipality have verbally instructed the officials to ensure that non-veg food and eggs remain hidden from the public eye on the streets.
Is this an official decision?
According to a report in The Indian Express, Gujarat BJP state president CR Patil termed all these decisions as personal decisions and said that the state BJP has nothing to do with them.
''I have spoken to the local bodies of Vadodara and Rajkot and asked them not to remove non-veg food carts from the streets''. He said,''This was the personal opinion of the leaders. We will not enforce it in the whole state. "
However, after the controversy over the issue, Gujarat Revenue Minister Rajendra Trivedi told the media that "no one has the right to set up stalls in the sidewalk. The sidewalk is for pedestrians.
He also congratulated the mayors of local bodies on this decision.Vadodara | On complaints of women & children about eyes itching while passing by street vendors cooking non-veg food openly, the Mayor has decided to convene a meeting with ward offices to start the practice of covering food with proper hygiene: Deputy Mayor Nandaben Joshi pic.twitter.com/5BQGKgLuXZ
— ANI (@ANI) November 13, 2021
Vadodara Deputy Mayor Nandabahan Joshi said in a statement issued on Saturday after the controversy that women and children were complaining of eye irritation from cooking non-veg dishes in public.
Although according to local media reports, the decision was withdrawn after 24 hours in Vadodara and stalls selling non-veg and eggs have not been closed at present, but there are reports of removal of stalls from Phool Chhab Chowk in Rajkot.
While removing the carts, Rajkot Deputy Commissioner AR Singh said, "People do not like such carts standing on the road and it causes traffic."
Earlier on November 5, former chief minister Vijay Ropani had also said that there was no need for non-wage. Bio-violence is not required. Vegetables keep the body healthy.
When he was the Chief Minister in 2019, he had termed the area around 500 meters of Somnath and Ambaji temples as 'vegetarian'.
Protesters threaten to protest
Following the decision, about 1.7 million non-veg, egg and fast food vendors in the state have threatened to stage protests against the Vadodara, Rajkot and Junagadh Municipal Corporations if the decision is not reversed.
Habib Ghani Bhai, whose nephew's cart has been removed, told the BBC that "people have been doing business for four or five decades where the cart has been removed."
He says that Hindutva politics is taking place in the name of eating meat and vegetables. He said, ''The 2022 elections are coming, so our carts are being removed''.
Alcohol ban and vegetarianism are two issues that are constantly being debated in Gujarat. Gujarat is seen as a 'vegetarian state' even though there is a significant population of meat eaters.
According to a 2014 survey conducted by the Registrar General of India, 61.80% of people in Gujarat are vegetarians and 39.05% are non-vegetarians.
Was meat never eaten in Gujarat?
Well-known cook and historian Pashpesh Pant and other scholars believe that the influence of Jainism or Vishnuism or natural non-violence has been going on in Gujarat for a long time.
Journalist Veer Singhvi writes, “India has never been a vegetarian country. The popularity of vegetarianism has come not from Hindu tradition but from Jain tradition.
In Gujarat, slaughterhouses are kept closed during Jain Tahora Prevention, which is a once-a-year fasting ritual.
Mittal Patel, who has been working for the betterment of gypsies for a long time, told that "70 per cent of them are vegetarians".
Sociologist Gorang Jani told that "if you look at the history of Gujarat, the kings sheltered Jainism which has an effect on their government."
Apart from genes, Vishnu has also influenced the state's diet. Both communities had small populations but both had a good grasp of the political and commercial structure.
Non-veg food has long been an important part of the diet of Parsis, tribesmen, Kashmiris and seafarers in Gujarat. Their new non-veg dishes are also quite popular.
The longest coastal border in the country is in Gujarat and seafood is also an important source of food for the state.
"People living near the coast have been eating seafood for decades, but the sea-going merchants belong to Banya and Jainism," says Gorang Jani.
Apart from the coastal people, a special area of the state is tribal where people have been eating meat.
Before independence, meat was also eaten in the states of Gujarat and Kathiawar. Hunting was not illegal in those areas at the time.
Parsis who came from Iran and settled in Gujarat also brought their own traditional dishes of meat and kebabs. And because of their proximity to the coast, their diet includes fish.
Journalist Veer Singhvi wrote in a tweet that "the best non-vegetarian dishes in the country are served by Gujaratis given by the Muslim community of Gujarat like Khoja and Memon."
Johnny says that when it comes to Gujarati thali, it is only vegetable thali because of the influence of the upper class. Gujarati thali also has non-veg food but it has disappeared. Even non-veg dishes are never shown in cooking shows on Gujarati channels.
He said, ''Communal forces in politics are afraid that the new generation is turning to non-vegetarian food, so how can the generation be linked to a policy that promotes Hindutva''. And that's why vegetarianism is being presented politically''.
He says the issue of Hindutva has become more important than being Gujarati.