Just days before Parliament’s Budget Session is set to begin – where another storm between the opposition and the treasury benches is expected – food politics has returned to the national discourse.
After a government order by the Yogi Adityanath government asking all restaurants along the Kanwar Yatra route to reveal the names of their owners led to unrest, the dispute over the culinary diktat has now spread to other BJP-ruled states – Uttarakhand and Rajasthan.
All the rumbling talk of the Uttar Pradesh BJP or the NEET paper leak was overwhelmed by the political backlash that filtered through not only the opposition but also NDA allies like the JD(U) and the RLD, who opposed the UP government’s diktat. Although he may have opposed the BJP, he has contributed to a discourse that has helped the party set its own talking points.
Therefore, food politics today must be viewed holistically and not only from the prism of one country.
THREE BJP-ruled states join forces
It all started with Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Friday ordering the installation of ‘nameplates’ of the owners of all restaurants and eateries on the Kanwar Yatra route through the state with the aim of “maintaining the purity” of the Kanwar faith. the pilgrim Following the lead, Uttarakhand issued a diktat on the same guidelines for installing name boards at places along the Yatra route. The yatra ends in Haridwar.
What’s up? The UP CMO further stated that action will be taken against those who sell products with Halal certification, while the Uttarakhand Police warned of strict action against those who do not follow the rules. To further prove the allegations of Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party and Congress, UP minister Kapil Dev Agarwal said in an interview that a section of Muslim traders were selling non-vegetarian food to pilgrims in the name of Hindus.
Until now, it was limited to the season. Then, order from Jaipur the capital of Rajasthan which is more than 1,000 kilometers away from the route. A new regulation on similar lines has been introduced for meat sellers in the Jaipur Municipal Corporation of the Greater region mandating that meat shops display ‘Jhatka’ or ‘Halal’ outside the shop.
Dr Saumya Gurjar, Mayor of Greater Municipal Corporation, approved this while also banning butchers from operating in residential areas. It is provided that the license for a meat shop will only be renewed if the establishment has a commercial lease. The municipal body is also planning a survey to ascertain the extent to which these shops can open.
Conveniently, in a matter of days, decisions in three BJP-ruled states have brought the focus back to culinary politics.
BJP’S FAMILIAR DOMAIN
Food politics is a familiar domain for the saffron party. Unlike the alleged irregularities in the quota of some IAS officers, the alleged NEET scam or the successive rail accidents, the BJP is in a commanding position when it comes to culinary diktats. After all, they’ve been there, and done that.
There have been several incidents in the recent past where the BJP has chosen bones over food. Recently, Defense Minister Rajnath Singh raised the issue of Tejashwi Yadav eating fish with roti during his election campaign in Jamui Bihar. He said the RJD leader ate fish during Navratri – the nine days when some Hindus consume only vegetarian food – forcing party leader Mukesh Sahani to clarify that Yadav’s action was not meant to hurt the sentiments of the Hindu community and that the video could have been posted later but from a time before Navratri .
This year, during the elections, PM Narendra Modi in Udhampur referred to a video released by the Congress in which Rahul Gandhi prepared mutton along with RJD supremo Lalu Prasad. PM Modi said, “Sawan ke mahine mein mutton banane ka mauj le rahe hain (In the month of Sawan, they cook meat and have fun)”. The PM said both sides were “teasing” Indians and their sentiments.
This January 22, five BJP-ruled states asked food delivery service Zomato not to deliver non-vegetarian food due to the inauguration of the Ram Temple. The authorities passed the directive in Uttar Pradesh, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan – two of which have also joined the current food politics.
Last year, the principal of Delhi University’s Hansraj College Rama Sharma justified the decision not to serve non-vegetarian food in the hostel and canteen because it followed the Arya Samaj philosophy, he said.
In 2018, the BJP-led South Delhi Municipal Corporation did not propose ‘non-veg food’ to be displayed outside restaurants. The Congress and members of the Indian Medical Association opposed the SDMC proposal at the time.
In most cases, the BJP has been able to control the flow of information, provide the right audience, and gain political advantage. While the objection to fish in Bengal proved to be a rare counter-productive step for the party in many cases, the success rate far outweighed the hiccups.
With a more confident opposition and a unified grassroots strategy, the BJP will be more comfortable fighting opposition voices raising concerns about the food diktat on the floor of the house rather than demanding a re-test of NEET or senior ministerial statements on complex issues as alleged by the IAS. scam.