The anti-meat mobs: Why they don't fit into Modi's vision of a new India

India’s relationship with meat-eaters, especially consumers of beef, had always sparked its fair share of squabbles both on the Internet and off it.

Religion and the deep fissures it wedges into our society is a reality most average Indians are conditioned to live with. However, with the rise of Narendra Modi and the consequent sense of entitlement and legitimacy that various Hindutva groups seem to have derived from it,  the country’s relationship with meat eaters seems to have acquired the kind of political significance that India has not witnessed in the recent past.

While controversial incidents around the consumption of meat, especially beef, have stalked India for a while, an  Outlook report states that more recently, conflict around the issue led to curfews in Ahmedabad during the Navratri festival.

In the article, journalist Saba Naqvi notes that despite the fact that the heads of the two communities were making attempts to ensure harmony during Navratri and Eid, which fell around the same time, there were reports of several skirmishes. Though beef slaughter is banned in Gujarat, the article notes that trucks carrying goats for slaughter were also stopped and attacked by Hindutva groups.

Naqvi reports, “This happened particularly in Dahod and Panchmahal districts, where there is an economic link between tribals and Muslims, both consumers of meat. Often people were falsely harassed for ‘carrying cows for slaughter’.”

Citing similar incidents in Rajasthan and Delhi, Naqvi concludes that the activities of several right wing groups signal an attempt to suppress individual and organisations which don’t fall in line with their diktat.

Apart from being a dietary choice, the domestic sale of meat and export is a thriving business in India.

International Business Times reported in 2013, “Beef is big business in India, despite the fact that many Indian states ban the slaughter of cows outright. Over the past four years, beef exports have surged by more than 44 percent, while domestic consumption has climbed by a comparable amount, according to Times of India. Meat produced by registered slaughterhouses jumped from 557,000 tonnes in 2008 to 805,000 tonnes in 2011. Income from bovine exports are expected to reach 18 billion rupees ($328 million) this year.”

While you would expect that the numbers would be construed as a healthy proliferation of an industry in India, that was not not happen. First Prime Minister Narendra Modi kicked off a row with a ‘pink revolution’ comment prior to the polls.

“This country wants a Green Revolution,” Modi said at a rally in Nawada, Uttar Pradesh. “But those at the Centre want a ‘Pink Revolution’. Do you know what it means? When animals are slaughtered, the colour of their flesh is pink. Animals are being slaughtered and taken out of the country. The government in Delhi is giving subsidies to those who are carrying out this slaughter.”

Following the polls, minister Maneka Gandhi suggested that the illegal slaughter and export of animals in the country are funding terrorist activities, immediately linking the lifestyle choice of a section of the country to a crime like terrorism.

Her part atrocious, part amusing conspiracy theory, we noted in Firstpost, didn’t really stem from deep concern for the well-being of animals or cows in particular. As we noted in Firstpost, it was part of a bigger political plan .

“Maneka Gandhi’s sudden concern for ‘pink revolution’ betrays the intense war of ambitions within the Uttar Pradesh BJP and the growing belief within its leaders that the only way to get the emperor’s approval is by outperforming each other in the dangerous game of hardline Hindutva he is watching from his pedestal.” The  save-the-animals cry, in spirit and intention, works much like a hate speech - riling a community against another, stoking feeling of social supremacy in one community to consolidate and win votes.

The Congress, on the other hand, used the same issue to blow their secularism trumpet.

Congress CM Siddaramaiah, as soon as he ousted the BJP regime in Karnataka, lifted a ban on cow slaughter that the BJP government had placed. There’s still a ban on cow slaughter in Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat, both of which have BJP governments.

While the BJP, pre polls, had continuously campaigned about UPA’s so called ‘pink revolution’ which led to a spurt in meat exports, one has to understand the difference in scenario now. As a pro-development campaign with underpinnings of Hindutva, Modi hit the right nerve not just among the masses but many among the educated middle and upper classes in India.

If our Prime Minister is trying to portray India and his government as an advanced, progressive country, ready for global business and political cooperation, the least that he has to do is make sure that his government and his party comes across as tolerant and evolved. By letting Hindutva outfits wreak havoc on meat eaters and associated businesses in small town India, the Prime Minister risks two strains of criticism.

Firstly, given that the hospitality industry is in an expansion mode in India , which includes restaurants that offer a variety of meats in cities, letting the anti-meat brigade run amok in smaller towns might hint that the government has deliberately let the Hindutva mob occupy the less vocal sections of the country. The reason being that in most cities and big towns, in most states, the sale and consumption of meat isn’t a hassle. Also, given that these incidents have a recurring presence in states ruled by the BJP, they can be read as a trailer of sorts for what is to follow for the entire country. Objecting to a basic freedom as food is quite a shame in a democracy, after all. That is a PR debacle that the Modi government won’t be willing to risk at the moment.

Then again, meat being a staple food in the dietary traditions of most other countries, rioting against it signals low tolerance for and ignorance about other cultures. The government staying mum on the issue would then be read as a quiet approval for intolerance and ignorance of that nature, something that won’t cut a great picture on the global stage.

PM Modi has almost made the right diplomatic noises in the recent times. Gagging the anti-meat mob would just keep the good record going.