No more playing gods: Meat-eating muslims lose big Ramlila roles in UP's Mumtaznagar

Among the rarer stories this year are those in which  Hindus and Muslims are coming together to celebrate Navratri, but sadly, this isn’t one of them. [caption id=“attachment_2469340” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  A women dressed in traditional attire play Garba (a dance form) as they celebrate Navratri in Gandhinagar. SOLARIS IMAGES[/caption] In a Muslim neighbourhood in the town of Mumtaznagar, the Ramlila has always been enacted by Muslims. For the last two years, Muslims have been barred from playing main characters like Ram, Sita, Lakshman and Hanuman, reports The Times of India as they eat meat. The reasoning behind this logic is that many of the worshipers come to seek the blessings of the main characters from the Ramayana, however being meat eaters they “shouldn’t enact the role of the gods”. But what about their Hindu counterparts who eat meat and perform? That’s no matter since most of the Hindu meat eaters turn vegetarian for the duration of the festival, adds the report. In a similar instance, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) has started putting up banners at the entrances of select garba venues across the state of Gujarat, asking non-Hindus not to participate in the dance programmes as it is restricted “only for Hindus”. “Navratri is a sacred Hindu festival… People who don’t believe in idol-worshiping must stay away… This festival is for Hindus only,” the banner says. Last week, general secretary of Gujarat VHP, Ranchhod Bharwad, had announced that his organisation would take all necessary steps to stop non-Hindus from entering the garba venues, including residential societies. _PTI_ reports that , the right-wing Hindu organisation justified the ban claiming that such steps are necessary to stop incidents of “love jihad, in which a Muslim boys lures and marry Hindu girls”. That’s not all. In Bhopal, another BJP legislator Rameshwar Sharma sparked off a fresh controversy by suggesting that Muslims must express their faith in Hindu rituals if they want to join Garba festival.  According to a report , Sharma said if Muslims want to participate in Garba festival they should drink cow urine and sing ‘Vande Mataram’.