Articles

Meat in India is being priced higher than morality on the political menu today. Food comes in numerous colours and cuts. It is now dividing the nation into various hues and habits, from Kashmir to Kerala. Bloody morsels of slaughtered animals and birds are dictating the contours of dialogue and debate. Foodies are so incensed over the ban on meat in many states that they are willing to send conscience to the abattoir over the inhuman act of a well-heeled Saudi diplomat who has been accused of raping two poor Nepalese women, and behaved like a butcher of decency. Most part of the last week was usurped by meat-loving gourmands to denounce and demonise a government, which was just implementing a ban that has been in place for decades. The municipal body in Mumbai was reinforcing a resolution, which was adopted in 1994. But for ill-liberals, it was a cardinal crime to extend the number of days during which the sale of meat was banned. They charged the BJP government of vote bank politics because the ban was imposed to oblige the Jain community. In the Valley, extremist elements took to streets and slaughtered animals after the J&K High Court directed the government to enforce a ban on killing cows that has been in force in the state for over a century. Forces opposed to the PDP-BJP government charged it of exclusively pandering to the Hindutva agenda. The print and electronic media, which were obsessed with Indrani Mukerjea’s salacious sins for weeks, shifted their cameras and took to their iPads to broadcast and podcast what they deemed was massive damage done by imposing a ban on their favourite dish for a couple of days.

Even the foreign media, which usually ignores retrograde practices in their own countries, started labelling India a Ban-Ban nation. Anyone and everyone who could speak English with an Oxbridge or Harvard accent left their bedrooms and boardrooms to moan and groan about the death of the freedom of gastronomy. All the famous TV anchors and the usual experts on everything, from potatoes to politics, played down the physical assault on impoverished Nepali women by a depraved diplomat, who would have been dead meat by now in any other country’s media coverage. They were more concerned about missing a meaty meal for a few days than leading the protest against the diplomat accused of rape. The discourse on the meat ban also reflected the nature of priorities, which are dear to the hearts of a privileged section of the urban elite. For them, freedom of food, the nature of sexual choices, free access to pornographic sites and mocking Indian deities, heritage and sites trump the survival of inclusive Indian culture. Any attempt to laud or revive Indian traditions of cuisine or clothing is termed an attack on privacy and individual liberty. But the ferocity of the uproar over the restriction on the sale of meat appears to be a clear indication that a vocal, well-connected, influential section of urban India is determined to dictate the lifestyle and moral choices of the entire nation.