Friday, March 29, 2024
 
 News Details
Beef and Mutton Controversy
This controversy will appear so ridiculous to the people living in Europe, America, Australia, China, Japan, and Russia where most people eat beef and all other kinds of meat



By Amit Kushari,IAS(Retd)





No, there was never any beef or mutton controversy in J&K---it might have been there in other parts of India. The Hindu Maharaja of J&K had banned the sale of beef in J&K around 80 years ago. Since there was no democracy at that time, there was no question of expression of displeasure or discontent. The Muslims of Kashmir were peace loving and were not very conscious of their Muslim identity. They believed in Sufism. They never wanted to pick a quarrel with their Hindu brothers.


I lived in J&K for almost 4 decades and seldom did I meet any Kashmiri Muslim who was fond of beef. The Kashmiri 'wazwaan' is usually made of mutton. I heard that beef was available in a few shops of downtown Srinagar and in remote areas of Anantanag and Baramula but well to do Kashmiris of the higher class shunned beef. These shops were frequented only by poorer sections of Kashmiris and the jawans of the security forces hailing from Kerala and Tamilnadu (mostly Christians and Muslims). When I asked Kashmiri Muslims as to why they do not relish beef, whereas the Muslims of UP, Bihar, Bengal, BanglaDesh and Pakistan are very fond of beef, they usually told me that Kashmiris had mostly converted to Islam from high caste Shaivite Brahmins whereas Muslims of other areas could have been converted from lower caste Hindus. They said that it was difficult for them to cut themselves off completely from the tradition of their Hindu ancestors and therefore beef remained a big "no, no" for them even now. The situation changed slightly after 1990 when Kashmiri Muslims became a little identity conscious and waged a war of independence against India, instigated by our neighbour.


I found the people of Jammu to be totally anti beef, although the lower classes do eat pork. The higher class Hindus relish mutton, chicken and eggs, but a large percentage of them, specially the women folk, are vegetarian. Many Hindus of Jammu are from the Jain sect or the Vaishnavite sect and they say "no" to non-veg food. Followers of Vaishno Mataji usually avoid meat, fish etc. The Sikhs are usually non-vegetarian but they don't eat beef. The Hindus are so dead against beef that they avoid using the word beef in conversation. Due to ignorance and simplicity I sometimes used the word and I was advised to say,"Woh cheez" instead of 'beef'. Sometimes I was advised to rinse my mouth with soap water for just uttering the word!! I could realise that half of J&K was deeply against beef eating---perhaps that was why the Maharaja could ban it easily. However, now that the Supreme Court has observed that no community should dictate to another community what they should eat and when, and that vegetarian religious beliefs cannot be forced down the throats of meat eating communities, the time has perhaps now come for the government to revisit the archaic anti beef law of J&K. Perhaps it ought to be abolished in the modern age and the public preference should be the priority as in all the advanced nations of the world.


This controversy will appear to be so ridiculous to people living in Europe, America, Australia, China, Japan, Russia where most people eat beef and all other kinds of meat. When we visit the markets in these advanced countries, we realise that in the first world, people have an unlimited choice of non- veg food. If you are tired of eating chicken, you could try ducks, partridges; if you re tired of fish you could try lobsters, eels or crabs; if you are tired of mutton and beef you could try pork. In Australia, you could try kangaroo or crocodile meat. People of the world at large will never understand our weird controversies.

Recently, many states of India like Maharashtra and Haryana have come under BJP rule. BJP is a party which is dominated by Northern and Western Hindus. In Northern and Western India Hindus are quite often vegetarians being influenced by Jain and Vaishnavite philosophy. The situation is entirely different in Eastern and Southern India. Our BJP leaders are, therefore, under a wrong impression. There is no direct correlation between vegetarianism and Hinduism. If meat is banned on Navratras in Bengal there will be a revolt. Navratras is the main festive season in Bengal, Orissa, Assam when people eat non veg delicacies. No body usually eats vegetarian food on these days. If BJP starts banning non veg food, people of eastern and southern India and also the north east will never allow BJP even a toe hold in these areas.


Meat eating in Hinduism has been codified in the Mahabharata in the chapter where Bhisham Pitamaha (the grand old grand dad of Hindus) gives his sermons on "Mansahaar vidhi" (norms of meat eating or tamsik bhojan). He advises that non veg food is essential for people who do manual work, pregnant women and people convalescing from serious illnesses. People who are engaged in the field of learning and worship have been advised to avoid non veg food as far as possible. There is no total ban on meat eating even on festive days. The governments of Maharashtra and Haryana should do some soul searching. Fortunately the Supreme court has already corrected these erring governments.



(Author is former Financial Commissioner, J&K. Feedback at [email protected] or contact at 09748635185)



(Disclaimer: The views, observations and opinions expressed in above write up of Scoop News are strictly author's own. Scoop News does not take any onus or liability for the veracity, accuracy, validity, completeness, suitability of any of information in the above given write up. The information, facts or figures appearing in the write up in no way manifest the position, standpoint or stance of Scoop News and the Scoop News does not assume any encumbrance or answerability of the same.)


Editor
Scoop News

([email protected])
...
Share this Story
 
 
  Comment On this Story
 
 
 Back Issuesk Issues
If you are looking for Issues beyond today. You can simply use this calendar tool to view Issue of Scoop News for any particular Date.
   
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
© Scoop News, Jammu Kashmirr
Home || About Us || Advertise With Us || Disclaimer || Contact Us
Powered by Web Design Jammu