Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'Ban to give boost to vote bank?' that was published in Newsband

Ban to give boost to vote bank?

Can one person’s religious freedom interfere with another’s food preferences? The ban has been imposed in some States on the sale of meat during the Jain community’s annual fasting period of Paryushan. The Bharatiya Janata Party came under attack from the Shiv Sena, its own ally in Maharashtra, over the decision. The Bombay High Court termed the move “regressive” and “absurd” in a cosmopolitan city like Mumbai.

By ordering a ban on meat for an extended period, has the BJP governments revealed a fundamentalist streak? The critics of BJP government call them intolerant. Now what is wrong if all political parties and self proclaimed religious leader give stress on meat ban as there is a community which refers to Cow as a holy animal? "Tolerance" is always expected from the Non-Vegetarians. Why do those Jain Housing societies, who refuse to allow anyone who is not a vegetarian buy a flat in their midst, learn some "tolerance"? And does that practice have any constitutional validity?

From the smallest lies to the most heinous of crimes, there are many things in life which all of us carefully side-step, as if walking in a mine-field. It is left to the choice of the individual whether he needs to try out any of these vices, without any of it being totally banned as such. So, why is it not possible to view the practice of religion, beliefs, food-habits, etc of others, in a similar way?

Religious and food preferences are unique to every individual. Logically they should not interfere and there needs to be respect for the other. By imposing a ban during Jain fasting period, it is going to either get the BJP a boost in the Hindu vote bank or may have a totally adverse effect. But politicians never give up trying to segregate society on the basis of caste or religion, for their own good.

It is not whether it impacts sellers or not. It's more about whether it is politically and morally correct to do so and then how will it impact various stakeholders? Another point is that one's religion doesn't impose its beliefs forcefully on others and it is true for every religion. And Jain community is not to be blamed at all. It is the government to be blamed. Such irresponsible behavior which might create social tension and rob away harmony in which we live is totally pedantic approach.