Just days before the Budget Session of Parliament is set to kick off — where another stormy face-off between the Opposition and treasury bench is expected — food politics has returned to the national discourse.
After a government order by the Yogi Adityanath government asking all eateries on the Kanwar Yatra route to show names of their owners sparked furore, the row over culinary diktats has now spread to other BJP-ruled states as well — Uttarakhand and Rajasthan.
All the talk of rumbling in Uttar Pradesh BJP or the NEET paper leak is being overwhelmed by shrill political reactions from not just the Opposition but also NDA allies like the JD(U) and the RLD, which have opposed the UP government’s diktat. While they may have opposed the BJP, they have contributed to a growing discourse that helps the party set its own talking points.
Hence, the current food politics need to be seen holistically and not just from the prism of one state.
THREE BJP-RULED STATES JOIN HANDS
It all started with Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Friday ordering the installation of a ‘nameplate’ of the proprietor of all eateries and restaurants on the Kanwar Yatra route across the state in a bid to “maintain the purity” of the faith of Kanwar pilgrims. Following the lead, Uttarakhand issued a diktat on similar guidelines of installing nameplates on boards across the Yatra route. The yatra ends at Haridwar.
What’s more? The UP CMO further stated that action will be taken against those found selling products with Halal certification, while the Uttarakhand Police warned of stringent action against those who fail to comply with the rules. To further prove the allegations of the Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party and Congress, UP minister Kapil Dev Agarwal claimed in an interview that a section of Muslim traders sells non-vegetarian food items to pilgrims under the garb of Hindu names.
So far, it was restricted to a season. Then, came the order from Rajasthan’s capital Jaipur which is more than 1,000 kilometres away from the route. A new regulation on similar lines has been introduced for meat sellers in Jaipur Municipal Corporation Greater region which mandates that meat shops display ‘Jhatka’ or ‘Halal’ outside their shops.
Dr Saumya Gurjar, the Mayor of Greater Municipal Corporation, approved this while also prohibiting meat sellers from operating in residential areas. It is learnt that licences for meat shops will only be renewed if the establishment has a commercial lease. The municipal body is also planning a survey to ascertain the extent to which these shops can run.
To put it simply, in a matter of days, decisions in three BJP-ruled states have brought the focus back to culinary politics.
BJP’S FAMILIAR DOMAIN
Food politics is a familiar domain for the saffron party. Unlike the alleged irregularities in the quota of few IAS officers, alleged NEET scams or successive rail accidents, the BJP is in a commanding position when the discourse is about culinary diktats. They have, after all, been there, and done that.
There have been several instances in the not-so-distant past where BJP has picked a bone over food. Most recently, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh raised the issue of Tejashwi Yadav eating fish with roti during his election campaigning in Bihar’s Jamui. He alleged the RJD leader ate fish during Navratri — nine days when some Hindus only consume vegetarian food — forcing party leader Mukesh Sahani to clarify that Yadav’s act was not intended to hurt the Hindu community’s feelings and the video may have been posted later but of a time that’s before Navratri.
This year, during the election, PM Narendra Modi in Udhampur referred to a video released by the Congress where Rahul Gandhi was preparing mutton along with RJD supremo Lalu Prasad. PM Modi said, “Sawan ke mahine mein mutton banane ka mauj le rahe hain (In the month of Sawan, they are cooking meat and having fun)”. The PM alleged that both were “teasing” Indians and their sentiments.
This January 22, five BJP-ruled states asked food delivery service Zomato not to deliver non-vegetarian food due to the Ram Temple inauguration. Authorities passed the directive in Uttar Pradesh, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan — two of which have also joined the current row over food politics.
Last year, principal of Delhi University’s Hansraj College Rama Sharma was adamant about the decision to not serve non-vegetarian food in the hostel and canteen as it follows the philosophy of the Arya Samaj, she said.
In 2018, then BJP-ruled South Delhi Municipal Corporation proposed no ‘non-veg food’ on display outside eateries. The Congress and members of the Indian Medical Association had objected to the SDMC’s proposal back then.
In most cases, the BJP has been able to control the information flow, catering to its right audience, and reaping political benefits. While objection to fish in Bengal proved to be a rare counter-productive move for the party in many instances, its success rates outweighed its hiccups.
With a more confident Opposition and their unified floor strategy in place, the BJP would be more comfortable countering opposition voices raising concerns over food diktats on the floor of the House than demanding a retest of NEET or a senior minister’s statement over tricky issues like alleged IAS scam.
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