Posted on 09/10/2022 5:14:56 AM PDT by FarCenter
NEW DELHI -- In northern India's Haryana state, Imroz was sitting inside his butcher shop, swatting away flies attempting to land on freshly slaughtered meat. Regional authorities had temporarily banned selling meat from Aug. 24 to Sept. 1 due to a Jain festival. Midway through, a court said meat sellers could still do business, but many opted to stay closed or operate undercover out of fear.
Imroz was keeping his shutter half-open, just in case anyone not observing the festival came looking for some chicken -- potential sales he could not afford to miss.
Pressure on meat merchants is growing in a country under heavy Hindu nationalist influence, starting at the top with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party government. Imroz lamented that while owners of small shops like himself are left to suffer economically, authorities have not prohibited the sale of frozen meat in supermarkets.
"Doesn't this mean they want to punish us for our choice of occupation? Knowing well that butchers are predominantly Muslim?" he asked.
The meat bans are part of the rise of what some call "vegetarian nationalism," whereby right-wing Hindu groups such as Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal tie an anti-meat agenda to Indian identity itself. These groups are closely linked to the BJP, which insists that it works to serve all Indians regardless of ethnicity or religion.
Some experts see the push for vegetarianism as part of a wider pressure campaign against the country's minority Muslim population, who make up about 15% of the total.
In 2021, a Pew Research Center report found that only 39% of Indians were vegetarians, implying that not all Hindus shun meat. While beef has always been an issue of contention for Hindus and is banned in many Indian states, since the arrival of the Modi government in 2014, the battle has come to include any and all nonvegetarian items.
The political doctrine of Hindutva, which aims to turn India into a Hindu nation, is rooted in the Rashtriya Swayamevak Sangh, an organization that is the ideological parent of the BJP. Hindutva considers meat consumption to be anti-Hindu and thus anti-India. Vegetarian nationalists reprimand those who consume meat -- Muslims, Dalits, Christians and Adivasis -- to coerce them to conform.
where are they on insects
Good question. Indians are the only fat vegetarians I ever met.
That’s because Indian vegetarian food is actually very unhealthy, as opposed to vegetarian food eaten by white Westerners.
Two religions named after women, Judyism and Jainism.
Hard-core Jains won’t wave at gnats on the off chance they might off one.
Honestly I would think the abject inhumanity that followed partition day would have convinced any Muslim in India to move to Pakistan and vice versa…
we really need more of these backwards folks in america...they seem like they would really ‘enrich’ our society. 10 million / year just isn’t enough.
Meanwhile, oppressed white Christians in South Africa aren’t allowed to immigrate....
Beans will put fat on you... any carbohydrate overeating will put fat on too. Too much fruit... same thing.
Lean meat is less fattening in many cases.
Different sauces and curries with oil and salt and other things help retain water is probably going to put some weight on as well.
I don’t know if Indians consume beer but beer is fattening and it also serves as a purified drink besides the water and in India the water must be atrocious in a large population areas.
I am by no means an expert on India, but there are a number of beers from India offered at the local Indian restaurant; whether they are commonplace there I cannot say.
P.S. The restaurant is named Curry Mango, probably because the curry chef is running around all the time trying to keep up with the orders; guests see him at work and exclaim, “Look at that curry man go!”
Why pay attention to Jains? They are nuts. They refuse to kill vermin that spread disease.
It is one thing to “not kill your neighbor”, but if you are too stupid to discriminate between vermin and others — bugger off.
What's the difference?
Indians use unhealthy oils (e.g. sunflower oil) and fats to cook their food, which has lots of fried dishes and carbs. Western vegetarians are better informed about these things and avoid them, sticking to healthier ingredients and fewer fried foods.
Yeah. Western vegetarians just starve their own pets and children to death...
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