Shiv Sena cash in on Mumbai meat ban, fries BJP with vigorous protests

Mumbai: As you wait for the final pronouncement of the Bombay High Court verdict on the meat ban during the Parayushan, there are a few points to chew on. One, it was first introduced in Mumbai in 1964 by the city civic body on persuasion by Jains. The mayor in that year was EA Bandookwala, a Bohri Muslim. The petition to him had cited how Akbar, the Mughal emperor had bowed to the sensitivity of the adherents to Jainism. [caption id=“attachment_2430190” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Caught in a political plate. AFP[/caption] Two, the ban across the state of Maharashtra has been in place since 2004 when neither the BJP, nor the Shiv Sena was in power. It was the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party, which had as much a proportion of meat-eaters as those who oppose the ban now. Three, the Mumbai civic body’s extended ban which included 17 September, was anyhow a meatless day — no slaughter house, no retail sale of meat — because of Ganpati festival. The withdrawn order by the city commissioner did not mention this. The Mumbai Municipal Corporation wanted the ban to be imposed every year, as scroll.in pointed out. It was not as the Shiv Sena made it out, a sudden bolt from the blue. But before pushing further into this issue of Shiv Sena’s and its breakaway party, Raj Thackeray’s Maharashtra Navnirman Sena’s on-the-street approach on the ban, imagine what would have happened had the Muslims been as strident on the beef ban in force since this year. Only carabeef (buffalo meat) is allowed; the new law prohibits slaughter of not just cows but bulls too. In the diatribe against the Jain community, Shiv Sena’s mouthpiece, Saamana had asked them not to be “religious fanatics” like Muslims. Imagine if they had slaughter or sold beef on the streets of Mumbai as a mark of protest. Despite its good Muslim, bad Muslim distinction, the Shiv Sena can hardly be called friendly to them to have digested such a protest. They preferred the courts instead. The ban on slaughter of bulls was the handiwork of the Shiv Sena-BJP led government in 1995-96 and the Bill approved by the legislature had lain unattended by the successive presidents till Pranab Mukherjee gave his consent — as all laws are required to be — when the present BJP-led government came to power. Muslims have not said, “Don’t enter our kitchens” like Sena has told the Jains. The irony is the meat ban came from a civic body controlled by the Shiv Sena. Apparently, it chose to take to the streets before it chose to move a resolution in the civic body seeking nullification of the Commissioner’s notification. Not surprisingly they hit the streets with a political motive as the Shiv Sena and also the MNS wanted to consolidate their own vote banks. The Jains are seen as BJP vote bank. Telling them off that their sensitivities during an important religious period concerning them did not matter to the city was one way. The Jains were told all sorts of things like that the Sena, which protected them during the 1992-93 riots, was capable of destroying their businesses. Moreover, that their businesses were not moral; they dealt in black money. If you know Marathi, read the editorial in Saamana of 10 September. Saamana editorials are generally quoted as not only the party view but also Uddhav Thackeray’s. He has never said that it not be ascribed to him. He told the Jains not to “enter our kitchens”. Strong words in an editorial which was headlined, “Jains, don’t go the Muslim way” (translation). MNS went in another direction – Jains had no business to tell Maharashtra which way to go. Gujarat was their place. Comparing Jains to the Muslim community was rather odd because it made the argument strident and at least verbally enhanced the threat. The Sena is consistent in its claims that it saved the city and the Hindus from Muslims. It has never downplayed this stance. The Maharashtra government has been left thrashing about without an escape route, and the fate of the BJP MLAs who lobbied for the ban have been no different. The Sena, which has outsmarted the BJP for lacking in finesse and decisiveness, and by winning over the meat-eaters, seems to think it has strengthened its vote bank for the next civic elections. Please note the ban on meat as per the state government notification is not limited to Mumbai. Curiously enough, not a whimper has been heard from anywhere else in the state.