In the span of just one week, Mumbai went from having an annual four-day meat ban that people had barely noticed before to having a reduced two-day meat ban agreed upon in the Bombay High Court, with a cloud of public outrage serving as a catalyst for the change.
Amidst all the protests on social media and the streets, however, most residents found it hard to keep track of the confusing details emerging from high-pitched news reports.
The controversy over the meat ban began on Monday when newspapers reported that Mumbai’s municipal corporation had ordered slaughterhouses and meat shops to remain closed on four days in September out of respect for the Jain fasting period of Paryushan. This four-day ban was not a first for the city – it had been imposed last year as well, and the year before that. Some reports claimed it had been in force since 2004.
But when Scroll.in spoke to chicken and mutton vendors in the city, most seemed to remember only two-day bans during Paryushan over the past few years. So how did the discrepancy crop up? How long has Mumbai really had these bans on the slaughter and sale of meat, and how many government circulars ordered them down the years? And if the bans are not new, why did the public and various political parties choose to raise hell only this year?
Circular confusion
The first reports about Mumbai’s ban on meat – excluding fish and eggs – came out on September 7, two days after the civic authorities in Mira-Bhayandar, a sprawling suburb just north of Mumbai, announced its decision to impose a meat-ban for all eight days of Paryushan from September 10 to 17.
But the circular issued by the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai to order its own four-day ban had in fact been signed and issued a week before, on September 1. The Marathi circular, of which Scroll has a copy, directs civic officials to implement a ban “just like every year” on four specific dates: September 10, 13, 17 and 18. It bases its choice of these four days on two municipal circulars from 1964 and 1994, as well as one Maharashtra government resolution from 2004, all of which list two days of meat bans each.
More clarity can be found in last year’s municipal circular ordering a similar four-day ban on “all kinds of meat”. It states that two of the four days are based on the Mumbai civic body’s 1964 and 1994 resolutions, which order meat bans on the first day of Bhadrapad (a month in the Hindu calendar) and the day of Samvatsari, which is the last day of Paryushan for the Swetambara sect of Jains. This year, these two days fall on September 13 and 18.
The other two days are based on the state government’s 2004 resolution that orders meat bans on the twelfth day of the Shravan month and the fourth day of Bhadrapad. This year, these dates correspond to September 10 and 17.
“For a long time, even after 2004, there were only two-day meat bans in Mumbai during Paryushan,” said Ram Dotonde, a spokesperson for city’s municipal corporation. “It is only in the past three or four years that the dates from the different circulars were added up to make it a four-day ban.”
For Jains or Hindus?
But at this point, the civic body’s own resolutions begin to appear confused. In the 2014 circular, the 4th of Bhadrapad is described as Paryushan Samapti, or the last day of Paryushan, one day before Samvatsari, also regarded as the last day of the Jain festival.
The 4th of Bhadrapad, however, also happens to mark the start of the Hindu Ganesh festival, and in the 2015 circular, that date – September 17 – is described as the day of Ganesh Chaturthi.
Dotonde confirmed that the order to keep Mumbai’s abattoir closed on September 17 was on account of the Ganesh festival. “It is not connected to the Jains,” he said.
Has there ever been a meat ban on the ground?
Mumbai’s municipal authorities may be adept at issuing circulars, but up till this year, there was very little focus on actually implementing the four-day meat bans. The Deonar abattoir – the only municipal slaughterhouse in the city – would dutifully remain closed on those days, but meat vendors claim they were never seriously affected.
Chicken vendors, for instance, do not source their birds from Deonar, and claim to have only kept their shops shut for two days of Paryushan over the past 10 years. “Sometimes, not even that,
said one chicken butcher in Grant Road.
Mutton and beef vendors, who do rely on Deonar as a wholesale market, claimed the same. “Four-day ban? Never heard of that,” said a mutton butcher from Govandi who did not wish to be identified. “We know of two-day bans, during which we just sell frozen meat stocked up the previous day. Sometimes we do obey the order and keep our shops closed, though.”
If the four-day meat ban has been poorly implemented and scarcely noticed by the public all these years, it is probably because it is not unusual for the Deonar slaughterhouse to be closed on holidays. According to the 2014 meat ban circular, the abattoir is closed on 18 public holidays throughout the year, “including four days of Paryushan”.
“Every Sunday, too, the slaughterhouse is closed, so we stock up on Saturday,” said the Govandi mutton butcher.
So what changed this year?
Clearly, for at least three or four years, Mumbai has been getting away with an unnoticed four-day meat ban that did not seriously impact the diets of non-vegetarians. Why, then, was there such a sudden uproar this year?
All the government and municipal resolutions ordering meat bans were actually issued by Congress-led governments in the state 1964, 1994 and 2004. Many protestors, however, have been quick to point fingers at the new Bharatiya Janata Party-led government that came to power in Maharashtra last October. The Shiv Sena, BJP’s coalition partner in the government, has been protesting the meat ban most aggressively.
At least some of their concerns seem to be valid. Mumbai’s four-day meat ban hit the headlines only after BJP corporators in the Mira Bhayandar civic body voted for an eight-day meat ban during this year’s Paryushan. BJP leaders like legislator Raj Purohit and corporator Dilip Patel were quoted in reports claiming that they planned to demand eight-day meat bans in Mumbai city too, which drew further attention to the issue.
“More than anything, it has been controversial this year because of the government’s beef ban this year,” said Dotonde. In March, the Maharashtra government extended its ban on the slaughter of cows to include bulls and bullocks, in effect banning all slaughter, trade and consumption of beef in the state. To many, the meat ban during Paryushan is simply an extension of the state’s interference in the dietary choices of citizens.
But the public outrage over the meat ban ended up leading to actual change. As the Shiv Sena and other parties openly defied the first day of the ban on September 10, mutton dealers in the city took their fight to the Bombay High Court.
On Friday, as the court termed the four-day ban as “regressive”, the municipal corporation relented and announced that the meat-ban would now only be for two days.
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Amidst all the protests on social media and the streets, however, most residents found it hard to keep track of the confusing details emerging from high-pitched news reports.
The controversy over the meat ban began on Monday when newspapers reported that Mumbai’s municipal corporation had ordered slaughterhouses and meat shops to remain closed on four days in September out of respect for the Jain fasting period of Paryushan. This four-day ban was not a first for the city – it had been imposed last year as well, and the year before that. Some reports claimed it had been in force since 2004.
But when Scroll.in spoke to chicken and mutton vendors in the city, most seemed to remember only two-day bans during Paryushan over the past few years. So how did the discrepancy crop up? How long has Mumbai really had these bans on the slaughter and sale of meat, and how many government circulars ordered them down the years? And if the bans are not new, why did the public and various political parties choose to raise hell only this year?
Circular confusion
The first reports about Mumbai’s ban on meat – excluding fish and eggs – came out on September 7, two days after the civic authorities in Mira-Bhayandar, a sprawling suburb just north of Mumbai, announced its decision to impose a meat-ban for all eight days of Paryushan from September 10 to 17.
But the circular issued by the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai to order its own four-day ban had in fact been signed and issued a week before, on September 1. The Marathi circular, of which Scroll has a copy, directs civic officials to implement a ban “just like every year” on four specific dates: September 10, 13, 17 and 18. It bases its choice of these four days on two municipal circulars from 1964 and 1994, as well as one Maharashtra government resolution from 2004, all of which list two days of meat bans each.
More clarity can be found in last year’s municipal circular ordering a similar four-day ban on “all kinds of meat”. It states that two of the four days are based on the Mumbai civic body’s 1964 and 1994 resolutions, which order meat bans on the first day of Bhadrapad (a month in the Hindu calendar) and the day of Samvatsari, which is the last day of Paryushan for the Swetambara sect of Jains. This year, these two days fall on September 13 and 18.
The other two days are based on the state government’s 2004 resolution that orders meat bans on the twelfth day of the Shravan month and the fourth day of Bhadrapad. This year, these dates correspond to September 10 and 17.
“For a long time, even after 2004, there were only two-day meat bans in Mumbai during Paryushan,” said Ram Dotonde, a spokesperson for city’s municipal corporation. “It is only in the past three or four years that the dates from the different circulars were added up to make it a four-day ban.”
For Jains or Hindus?
But at this point, the civic body’s own resolutions begin to appear confused. In the 2014 circular, the 4th of Bhadrapad is described as Paryushan Samapti, or the last day of Paryushan, one day before Samvatsari, also regarded as the last day of the Jain festival.
The 4th of Bhadrapad, however, also happens to mark the start of the Hindu Ganesh festival, and in the 2015 circular, that date – September 17 – is described as the day of Ganesh Chaturthi.
Dotonde confirmed that the order to keep Mumbai’s abattoir closed on September 17 was on account of the Ganesh festival. “It is not connected to the Jains,” he said.
Has there ever been a meat ban on the ground?
Mumbai’s municipal authorities may be adept at issuing circulars, but up till this year, there was very little focus on actually implementing the four-day meat bans. The Deonar abattoir – the only municipal slaughterhouse in the city – would dutifully remain closed on those days, but meat vendors claim they were never seriously affected.
Chicken vendors, for instance, do not source their birds from Deonar, and claim to have only kept their shops shut for two days of Paryushan over the past 10 years. “Sometimes, not even that,
said one chicken butcher in Grant Road.
Mutton and beef vendors, who do rely on Deonar as a wholesale market, claimed the same. “Four-day ban? Never heard of that,” said a mutton butcher from Govandi who did not wish to be identified. “We know of two-day bans, during which we just sell frozen meat stocked up the previous day. Sometimes we do obey the order and keep our shops closed, though.”
If the four-day meat ban has been poorly implemented and scarcely noticed by the public all these years, it is probably because it is not unusual for the Deonar slaughterhouse to be closed on holidays. According to the 2014 meat ban circular, the abattoir is closed on 18 public holidays throughout the year, “including four days of Paryushan”.
“Every Sunday, too, the slaughterhouse is closed, so we stock up on Saturday,” said the Govandi mutton butcher.
So what changed this year?
Clearly, for at least three or four years, Mumbai has been getting away with an unnoticed four-day meat ban that did not seriously impact the diets of non-vegetarians. Why, then, was there such a sudden uproar this year?
All the government and municipal resolutions ordering meat bans were actually issued by Congress-led governments in the state 1964, 1994 and 2004. Many protestors, however, have been quick to point fingers at the new Bharatiya Janata Party-led government that came to power in Maharashtra last October. The Shiv Sena, BJP’s coalition partner in the government, has been protesting the meat ban most aggressively.
At least some of their concerns seem to be valid. Mumbai’s four-day meat ban hit the headlines only after BJP corporators in the Mira Bhayandar civic body voted for an eight-day meat ban during this year’s Paryushan. BJP leaders like legislator Raj Purohit and corporator Dilip Patel were quoted in reports claiming that they planned to demand eight-day meat bans in Mumbai city too, which drew further attention to the issue.
“More than anything, it has been controversial this year because of the government’s beef ban this year,” said Dotonde. In March, the Maharashtra government extended its ban on the slaughter of cows to include bulls and bullocks, in effect banning all slaughter, trade and consumption of beef in the state. To many, the meat ban during Paryushan is simply an extension of the state’s interference in the dietary choices of citizens.
But the public outrage over the meat ban ended up leading to actual change. As the Shiv Sena and other parties openly defied the first day of the ban on September 10, mutton dealers in the city took their fight to the Bombay High Court.
On Friday, as the court termed the four-day ban as “regressive”, the municipal corporation relented and announced that the meat-ban would now only be for two days.