The past few weeks have seen banning of not only beef in Mumbai, but also the ban of meat in states such as Gujarat, Rajasthan and Chattisgarh. The meat ban in the latter three states is just during the period of the Jain festival, Paryushan, but the one in Mumbai is a fully fledged law with a fine of rupees 10,000 and a jail of five years, if broken. Interestingly, a lot of the literate and the not so literate are raising questions such as, “How can the government interfere with our food?” or “What difference does it make to the government what we eat?”. Multiple actors spoke freely against the beef ban, Raveena Tandon tweeted: “My only take on beef issue that it should not be enforced, it should be optional… To eat or not to eat, is a personal choice.”, while Ayushmann Khurana in all humour typed “Beef faal baad! #kaminey”. Activists too raised concerns which were just reiterated by the vehement opposition of the bill, by the people. With the prospect of future bans on other kinds of non-vegetarian, the anger just seems to be increasing.
Now, let me pause all you literate food liberals right there. There have been bans on what I eat for a very long time. Baffled?
I eat cocks, only pure cock meat, no pussy for me but the Indian law prohibits me to do so and it’s not just me, my fellow lesbians are prevented from trying their favorite pussy and forced by law to eat cock. Now, what do you food extremist have to say about this? Are you willing to fight the cause of my meat bans as well?
On a more serious note, the hypocrisy in our society makes me laugh. On the 12th of December 2013, I was officially declared a criminal for having sex, the most basic instinct known to man, yet not more than a handful of people raised their voice. Everyone sat shut like Gandhi’s monkeys, completely oblivious of the torment of a so called “miniscule minority”. I clearly remember one of my friends mocking gay men after the appeal to abolish Sec 377 was rejected. The other day this very friend of mine, while having dinner with me, spoke out in complete fervor about the beef ban. She said, “This is stupid! What these government officials are doing violates our basic rights.” She went on as the debate on banning on beef in Maharashtra proceeded among my other friends at the table. I, however, sat at my corner of the table meekly smiling at the irony and the hypocrisy.
It’s astounding to think that how such a big ruckus is being created because politicians are trying to ban a specific kind of food but not many raised their voice when Sec 377 was placed back on the pedestal of law. The hilarious part is that they cannot bear the law interfering in their food but they can bear the law peeping in their bedrooms. I guess the only thing we can say from all this is that India is a very liberal country, but only for the foodies.