Meat ban over Ramzan, Eid? ‘Does BJP have the guts to shut liquor shops for Navratri?’

Why did Delhi's public works department (PWD) minister Parvesh Verma on Thursday, 27 March, feel the need to announce a crackdown on "illegal" meat sellers just ahead of Navratri?

During Question Hour in the Delhi assembly (with the budget session ongoing), BJP MLA Karnail Singh raised his concern over meat being sold openly on footpaths and in shops ahead of the nine-day festival.

Responding to him, Verma said, "All officers have been instructed. If anyone is sitting anywhere illegally, they should be removed."

It remains unclear why the illegality of these outlets matters only during festivals and not otherwise, however.

He urged MLAs to report instances of any kind of encroachment in their constituencies and assured them that a drive would be launched to address the issue.

"I will personally oversee the action against encroachments," he said.

Verma informed the House that orders had already been issued to remove illegal meat- and fish-selling units in the capital.

Earlier in the week, BJP MLA Ravinder Singh Negi called for the closure of meat shops during Navratri and sparked a row.

It wasn't Negi's first attempt to enforce a meatless city to ‘protect’ Hindu sentiments either. He was seen going shop to shop telling meat sellers and butchers to shut shop during Navratri last year as well — and that was before the BJP came to power in the capital (the AAP was the party in power).

He was seen enforcing it in his constituency of Vinod Nagar the year before, in 2023, as well.

These didn't look like illegal establishments.

In a press conference on Thursday, AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh accused the BJP of selective enforcement of rules, however, even when it came to illegal outlets.

Singh also alleged that while the BJP was distributing Eid kits to Muslims, it was simultaneously cracking down on small meat vendors.

"If the BJP has the guts, they should shut down big restaurants and liquor shops as well during Navratri," he said.

In an interview to ANI, Singh also noted that Delhi has embassies of various countries, and meat and fish continue to be cooked and served there. “There are so many guesthouses in Delhi from various places,” he said, “and even there also meat is cooked.”

In an interview to IANS, Congress leader Rashid Alvi said of the BJP leaders’ strictures, "They are in power today, so they can do anything.

"In this country, it's not just Muslims who eat meat," he pointed out. "There is a large number of Hindus who also consume meat."

Equally, not all meat shops are run by Muslims, of course — even though Negi has made a point of visiting several Muslim-owned establishments on his 'awareness' campaign. Many lower-caste and Dalit Hindus run 'jhatka' meat shops, as opposed to the halal kind. Many Sikh families run chicken shops — several rather famous — all over Delhi.

"You are taking away their livelihood," said Alvi, speaking of butchers, restaurateurs and shopkeepers of both communities. "If their shops are open, how does it affect anyone? You don't have to eat it!"

"Muslims have never demanded a ban on pork during Eid, Bakrid or Ramadan," he pointed out, in an obvious parallel. "These kinds of statements are being made only to spread hatred in the country."

Other citizens have pointed out that the demand for the Hindu festival to be 'protected' in this way is patently unfair to the minority Muslim community, given Ramzan is ongoing and Eid is expected to be celebrated on 30/31 March (depending on the sighting of the moon).

How, indeed, is it the right of a BJP minister or any citizen to further restrict the diet of a fasting community to please someone else — who is in no way being required to partake involuntarily?

Or ‘constitutional’ to ruin the typical festive spreads of Eid, one of the Muslims’ most important celebrations on the year and an universal one? (Chaitra Navratri is not universally celebrated by Hindus, on the other hand, and is very much a local phenomenon in the cow belt.)

With PTI, IANS inputs