India is a cow-loving nation, as you know, although some states display their love in different fashions. Kerala, for example, is famous for turning cows into particularly delicious dishes eaten by Hindus and others alike, something that doesn't quite sit well with the Hindu Right which has recently re-discovered the joy of preventing others from eating what they want to. But if they can't make it all the way to Kerala, they can at least start with Kerala House in the heart of New Delhi, which is what happened on Monday.

First there was a Facebook post, by someone in the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, complaining that Kerala House in New Delhi has beef fry on its menu.


This made its way to Vishnu Gupta, a leader of the Hindu Sena, which presumably would want to prevent people everywhere from eating cows. Gupta made a call to the police complaining that Kerala House was serving cow meat, even though the menu simply says beef. Before that call, two "unidentified people" reportedly made their way to Kerala House and started quizzing the staff about where the beef came from, according to a member of the canteen board.


Then suddenly a police team of more than 20 personnel turned up at Kerala House, stationed officers at entry points and then tried to enter the building. Officials at the guest house, however, made it clear that they couldn't search the building: Kerala House happens to be the property of the state government.

Asked whether they served beef in the canteen, authorities at the house insisted that they did but that it was legal buffalo meat bought from Delhi-government authorised slaughter houses.

The slaughter and possession of agricultural cattle, which covers cows, calves, bulls and bullocks, but not buffaloes, is illegal in Delhi. Few restaurants in the capital, which banned cow meat two decades ago, still serve beef but those that do use buffalo meat for their steak or beef dishes.


Once authorities at the Kerala House made it clear that the police wouldn't be able to search the premises, and were repeatedly assured that it was only buffalo meat being served, the 20-strong team left.


Later, speaking to reporters the police insisted they hadn't gone there to investigate what kind of meat was being sold but instead were only worried about an untoward incident, in the aftermath of the Dadri lynching, when a man was brutally lynched by a mob who believed he had slaughtered a cow. "The objective was to ensure that law and order is not disrupted," said Deputy Commissioner of Police (New Delhi) Jatin Narwal.

For now it seems Kerala House is not going to serve buffalo meat either, even though it's perfectly legal. If sale of the meat means Hindu Sena threats and entire teams of policemen coming to search the premises, who can blame them? A regular visitor talking to The Telegraph put it a little more pithily after being told that the police showed up around 4:30: "What did they hope to find? The beef fry is so good it gets over before 3pm."